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
Haydn 2032 – Vol. 19: Trauer
Joseph Haydn: Symphonies No. 44 in E minor »Trauer«, No. 52 in C minor, No. 108 in B flat major, Arvo Pärt: Da Pacem Domine, Samuel Scheidt: Paduana dolorosa. Il Giardino Armonico, Giovanni Antonini. Alpha Classics 1101 (Naxos)
This recording is anything but ordinary. The varying line-up and occasional inclusion of works by other composers in the »Haydn 2032« series continually bring new perspectives to Haydn’s music. This is also the case here, where, as part of a programme titled »Mourning«, Symphony No. 44 is paired with Pärt’s »Da pacem Domine« and a »Paduana dolorosa« by Samuel Scheidt. A compelling programme – not only because its subject feels painfully relevant today, but also because of the music’s intensity. Il Giardino Armonico finds characteristic freshness in Haydn and conjures an almost timeless sound-world with Scheidt’s viol music. For the jury: Michael Kube
Orchestral Music & Concertos
Héritage
Works for Trumpet and Orchestra by Henri Tomasi, Joseph Jongen, Léon Stekke, Florent Schmitt, Charles Koechlin. Sebastian Berner, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Elias Grandy. Channel Classics CCS 49826 (Naxos)
Winning First Prize at the 2022 Maurice André International Competition in Paris cemented Sebastian Berner’s reputation as one of the outstanding trumpeters of his generation. With his debut CD, too, Berner – currently principal trumpeter of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra – more than lives up to those expectations. The album »Héritage« succeeds not only because of Berner’s brilliant playing, but also thanks to its careful selection of rarely-heard 20th-century Belgian and French works, including several world premiere recordings. For the jury: Norbert Hornig
Chamber Music
East Meets West
Works by Aftab Darvishi, Unsuk Chin, Jörg Widmann, Thomas Adès. Anne-Sophie Mutter, Nancy Zhou, Ye-Eun Choi, Muriel Razavi, Pablo Ferrández, London Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Adès. CD/LP, Alpha Classics 1244 (Naxos)
These works set out from tradition, but arrive at a distinctly modern musical language. The composers achieve this in works commissioned works by Anne-Sophie Mutter (composed between 2020 and 2025) in various ways: Widmann deconstructs Beethoven, whilst Darvishi draws on melodies from her native Iran. Mutter interprets the works with uncanny precision and ease, with driving energy and lyrical eloquence. Four works that deserve to be included in the repertoire receive performances that set a benchmark. For the jury: Dorothee Riemer
Chamber Music
alto appassionato
Works for Viola and Piano by Gabriel Fauré, Léon Honnoré, Henri Büsser, George Enescu, César Franck. Timothy Ridout, Jonathan Ware. harmonia mundi HMM 902787 (Integral)
The young British violist Timothy Ridout is already regarded as one of the finest in his field. With this album, he proves that he is not only a captivating performer, displaying verve, virtuosity and sensitivity, but can also impress with intelligent and imaginatively conceived programmes. Here, Ridout – together with his pianist partner Jonathan Ware – presents original works and arrangements by composers who lived in Paris. The result is at times brilliant, at times melancholic, yet always captivating and passionate in the very best sense. For the jury: Andreas Göbel
Keyboard Music
Vsevolod Zavidov plays Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Études-Tableaux Op. 33, Corelli Variations Op. 42, Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14, Bach/Rachmaninoff: Partita in E major BWV 1006. Vsevolod Zavidov. Alpha Classics 1212 (Naxos)
Portraits of an Exile – An impressive Rachmaninoff debut by a former »child prodigy«: the 20-year-old Vsevolod Zavidov brings dazzling, playful clarity to Rachmaninoff’s transcriptions of movements from Bach’s Partita. His reading of the Études-Tableaux as deeply-felt reminiscences of the beauty of old Russia is equally lucid and evocative. The late Corelli Variations emerge as dark, intensely focused reflections by an artist in exile. The famous Vocalise brings this outstanding debut album to a consoling close. For the jury: Attila Csampai
Keyboard Music
Friedrich Cerha: Complete Organ Works
Wolfgang Kogert. Kairos 0022064KAI (Note 1)
Friedrich Cerha came to the organ late in life, but with all the more intensity. The organ works, composed during the final years of the composer’s life, are transformed into something extraordinary in Wolfgang Kogert’s fiery interpretation: energetic, precise, unpretentious and with a clear understanding of their dramatic architecture. This music demands concentration – and rewards it with a distinctive soundscape that ranges from ascetic rigour to surprising colour. Kogert strikes the right balance, sharpens the contours and reveals the structural energy of these incisive pieces. The recording impressively confirms Cerha’s status as a distinctive voice in modern organ music. For the jury: Guido Krawinkel
Opera
Tommaso Traetta: Ifigenia in Tauride
Rocío Pérez, Rafał Tomkiewicz, Suzanne Jerosme, Alasdair Kent, Karolina Bengtsson, NovoCanto, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset. 2 CDs, Aparté AP399 (Integral)
This outstanding recording introduces a gripping late work of the Neapolitan school – great vocal artistry in the service of a new form of musical drama. Traetta’s three-act opera premiered in Vienna in 1763, a year after Gluck’s reform opera »Orfeo ed Euridice«, whose chorus of the Furies of the Underworld echoes here in the nightmare of the matricidal Orestes. In keeping with the violent plot, the despot Thoas is stabbed to death not by the invading Greeks, but by Iphigenia herself – the final flourish for this first recording on CD. Essential listening. For the jury: Max Nyffeler
Opera
Clémence de Grandval: Mazeppa
Tassis Christoyannis, Nicole Car, Julien Dran, Ante Jerkunica, Paweł Trojak, Bavarian Radio Choir, Munich Radio Orchestra, Mihhail Gerts. 2 CDs with booklet, Bru Zane BZ 1063 (Naxos)
Clémence de Grandval’s (1828–1907) opera »Mazeppa«, which premiered in Bordeaux in 1892, combines the dramaturgy of French »grand opéra« with reminiscences of German music drama. Under the baton of Mihhail Gerts, the Munich Radio Orchestra has recorded this love drama—against the backdrop of Ukraine’s struggle for freedom in the early 18th century—featuring Nicole Car and Tassis Christoyannis. This work has nothing to fear from comparison with Pjotr Tchaikovsky’s opera on the same subject, composed eight years earlier; indeed, it surpasses it in dramatic intensity. For the jury: Robert Braunmüller
Choral Music
I am a river
Helena Tulve: I am a river, Nocturnal Songs, Kaija Saariaho: Lumen valosta, Nej och inte, Suomenkielinen sekakuorokappale, Kesäpäivä. Helsinki Chamber Choir, Nils Schweckendiek. SACD, BIS 2742 (Naxos)
Thousands of universes pass through the eye of a needle: Rūmī’s vision of the microcosm and the macrocosm finds its musical counterpart in Helena Tulve’s setting, with a sound world that is at once mystical and dramatic. The individual voices are drawn together into an unbroken flood of choral music. The tension between the individual and the collective, between tradition and transgression, creates an almost irresistible in the work of this Estonian composer and of her Finnish colleague Kaija Saariaho – expressive to the point of cries and whispers, subversive in its offbeat humour. And the performance is… galactic. For the jury: Martin Mezger
Lieder and Vocal Recital
A Poet’s Love
Songs by Carl Loewe, Josephine Lang, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Héloïse Werner. Helen Charlston, Sholto Kynoch. SACD, BIS 2704 (Naxos)
Helen Charlston is a phenomenon. It is not just the warm, dark and rich timbre of this young British mezzo-soprano, but also her gift for blending text and expression into a seamless whole. Everything she sings has a deeply personal quality. Schumann’s »Dichterliebe« forms the emotional centre of the programme, performed with unforced lyricism and compelling intensity. Alongside it, like mirror images, are songs by Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, Josefine Lang, Carl Loewe, and a new mini-Heine cycle by the composer Héloïse Werner. Sholto Kynoch’s perfectly judged playing completes the delight. Dreamlike. For the jury: Albrecht Thiemann
Early Music
Pomponio Nenna: Madrigali
Pomponio Nenna: Il primo libro de Madrigali a cinque voci (1582). Comet Musicke. Ricercar RIC 488 (Naxos)
Today, Pomponio Nenna tends to be overshadowed by his contemporary and colleague Carlo Gesualdo. The two influenced one another in their text setting, use of dissonance and chromatic modulations. The ensemble Comet Musicke, known for its meticulous research, has recorded Nenna’s first book of madrigals (1582). In doing so, it paves the way for the rediscovery of this Italian Renaissance composer. The idiomatic, stylistically assured interpretation, with its expressive sound, is captivating from the very first note; this makes listening deeply rewarding. For the jury: Bettina Winkler
Contemporary Classical Music
György Kurtág: Secreta
Complete Works for String Quartet. Quatuor Béla. bastille musique bm40 (rudi mentaire distribution)
This recording of Kurtág’s complete string quartets invites the listener on a sensory and intellectual adventure. Even the 16-second Presto from the »Mikroludien«, heard twice, three times or ten, draws the listener deep into Kurtág’s mysterious musical world. The Quatuor Béla achieves this by uncovering the subtlest resonances with Bartók, Webern and Bach, while lending every note its own character. With remarkable artistic imagination, »Secreta« follows the path first suggested by the psychologist Marianne Stein. In the late 1950s, she advised Kurtág to begin again with a single note – and to take it seriously. For the jury: Margarete Zander
Historical Recordings
The Great Forgotten Danish Violinist Henry Holst
Works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, William Walton, Fritz Kreisler and others. Henry Holst, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, Anthony Pini, Philharmonia Quartet and others, BBC Welsh Orchestra, BBC Northern Orchestra, Mansel Thomas, Charles Groves. 2 CDs, Danacord DACOCD 1009 (Naxos)
A richly detailed portrait of the violinist Henry Holst, who was active primarily in England and Denmark, and who can be heard both as a chamber musician (for example, as the leader of the Philharmonia Quartet) and as a soloist. The violin concertos by Walton and Vaughan Williams, heard here in broadcasts from 1947 and 1949, impress with their musical spontaneity, sense of style and expressiveness, and transcend the limitations of the recording technology. As a chamber musician, Henry Holst plays with nuance and expressivity, refined phrasing and transparency. For the jury: Jürgen Schaarwächter
Crossover Productions
Mahan Mirarab: Unspoken
Mahan Mirarab, Kian Soltani, Lars Danielsson, Golnar Shahyar: Unspoken. CD/LP, ACT 8022-2 (Edel)
The Tehran-born musician Mahan Mirarab, who has been based in Vienna since 2009, makes his Act Music debut after numerous previous releases. On »Unspoken«, elements of jazz, Iranian music and European chamber music blend into a cohesive whole. Alongside Iranian-inflected solo pieces, played on a double-neck guitar, the album features captivating duets with colleagues such as jazz bassist Lars Danielsson. His tribute to Jina Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of the morality police in 2022 sparked nationwide protests, is deeply moving. For the jury: Christoph Irrgeher
Film Music
Hildur Guðnadóttir: The Bride!
Digital, Water Tower Music (Warner)
What a start: right from the very first track, »The Fall«, on the album for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s »The Bride!«, Hildur Guðnadóttir draws Mary Shelley’s time-travelling story into the present. She then returns to the Romantic era and, through swing numbers (a ghostly »Puttin« on the Ritz’), evokes the 1920s. Once again, Guðnadóttir surprises with unexpected instrumental colours. In »The Bride!«, she reveals just how compelling the fragility of romantic love can be. For the jury: Stephan Ahrens
Music Film
Ivry Gitlis – On the Art of (Not) Being a Violinist
A film by Gai Tordjman. Ivry Gitlis, Daniel Barenboim, Martha Argerich, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman. Stream, WDR (Arte)
The violinist Ivry Gitlis (1922–2020), esteemed by the greatest musicians and acclaimed by audiences, never quite fitted into the classical music establishment. He was simply too unconventional and versatile for that, moving freely between musical genres. Gai Tordjman draws on a wealth of archival footage of Gitlis’s performances and interviews with musicians. Enriched by Tordjman’s personal encounters with him in Paris, and woven together with a wonderfully assured narrative voice, they create a portrait of the violinist in all his enigmatic brilliance and eccentricity. Unfortunately, one mystery remains unsolved: what led to Gitlis’s break with the classical music world. Those in the know – or even those directly involved – remain tellingly silent. For the jury: Helge Grünewald
Foto: © Les Films d’Ici/Exocet Films
Jazz
Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa
Michel Petrucciani, Dave Holland, Eliot Zigmund: Kuumbwa. 2 CDs/2 LPs, Elemental Music 5990459 (Edel)
Michel Petrucciani embodied both the romantic and the virtuosic sides of modern mainstream jazz piano. Like Chopin– beside whom he is buried – before him, the French pianist played his way into people’s hearts with breathtaking brilliance and unabashed emotional depth, delicate lyricism and sheer exuberance. The same qualities shine through in this 1987 live recording from the Kuumbwa Jazz Centre in Santa Cruz – the trio’s only documented performance – with bassist Dave Holland and Bill Evans’ drummer Eliot Zigmund. It was a memorable display of musical communication and creativity. For the jury: Marcus A. Woelfle
Jazz
Christof Lauer: Odyssea Sonorum
An:Bruch an02bruch (RecordJet)
An explosion of tonal colours – Christof Lauer shapes them, forging them into something uniquely his own. Lauer’s saxophones – tenor and soprano – steam and sweat, weep and exult. In his musical home, Frankfurt’s Alte Nikolaikirche, he lets storms erupt from his horns. Lauer, best known for his work in larger ensembles – in the HR Jazz Ensemble and for many years with the NDR Big Band – is entirely on his own here, armed with a formidable technique. Even as a soloist, he proves a phenomenal stylist and a master colourist: few saxophonists speak so eloquently through their instrument. For the jury: Guenter Hottmann
World Music
Souad Massi: Zagate
CD/LP, Backing Track BTCD002 (Galileo)
Zagate is the Algerian adaptation of the French expression »ça se gâte«, meaning »everything’s going down the drain«. Souad Massi’s songs move between anger and contemplation, toughness and vulnerability. One of the album’s central ideas comes from the 12th-century philosopher Ibn Rushd: »Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, hatred leads to violence – that is the equation«. Massi balances such ideas, set in muscular arrangements, with soulful ballads. The eleven songs are a plea for humanity, for hope – but they pull no punches. For the jury: Jodok W. Kobelt
Traditional Ethnic Music
Yiddish Glory: The Silenced Songs of World War II
Digital, Six Degrees Records 990481102617 (direct distribution)
With great sensitivity, the ensemble Yiddish Glory gives voice to a unique musical legacy. Almost forgotten Yiddish songs tell of suffering, persecution, flight, betrayal and the will to survive. The Soviet ethnomusicologist Moisei Beregovsky was exiled to the Gulag, in part because he collected these musical testimonies from the time of the Holocaust. Following their rediscovery, they are now brought back to life in performances of extraordinary artistic power and virtuosity. Each melody bears witness to lives forever changed and, at the same time, forms a bridge to our present – a moving act of remembrance. For the jury: Babette Michel
German language Singer/Songwriters
Paul Bartsch & Band: Theaterdonner
Zoundr ZDR0819 (Timezone Distribution)
With »Theaterdonner«, the Halle-based Professor of Education proves once again that intelligent songwriting can raise its voice without shouting. His lyrics engage both heart and mind, offering a perceptive and deeply-felt portrait of our times. Musically powerful, poetic and full of conviction, the band combines rock, chanson and the singer-songwriter tradition to create a distinctive sound. An album that lingers – because it moves and unsettles. Especially now, with storm clouds gathering over Bartsch’s home state of Saxony-Anhalt ahead of the 2026 state election. This is far more than mere sound and fury. For the jury: Petra Schwarz
Folk and Singer/Songwriters
Trad Quartett
Digital/CD, self-produced 4068992689807 (direct distribution)
The band was founded in 2024, won the Dieter Wasilke Folk Promotion Prize in 2025, and their debut album appears on the PdSK’s 2026 list of best recordings – that’s a meteoric rise. The three men and one woman (double bass, guitar, Quinton violin, as well as clarinet, soprano saxophone, wooden flute and Hümmelchen – a small German bagpipe) have dedicated themselves to the dance music of the 18th and 19th centuries, enriching it with modern elements. Dance music naturally imposes certain constraints – yet what the group does within those limits deserves real respect. Improvisations, rhythmic accents, jazzy phrases – it all works, and is enormous fun to listen to. For the jury: Mike Kamp
Pop
Joe Jackson: Hope And Fury
CD/LP, earMusic 0221180EMU / 0221182EMU (Edel)
Throughout his 50-year career, Joe Jackson has never been content to rest on his laurels and has constantly opened new doors. »Hope And Fury« is a landmark album from this tireless artist, revisiting many strands of his earlier work while bringing them together in fresh and unexpected ways. In the opening track, he eases the listener into the album’s bustling world before plunging into a turbulent reflection of humanity in all its diversity. More than ever before, Joe Jackson proves himself to be a shrewd storyteller. For the jury: Wolf Kampmann
Rock
Paul McCartney: The Boys Of Dungeon Lane
CD/LP, Capitol Records 0199957248600 (Universal)
At his age, McCartney is entitled to a little nostalgia: on 18 June 2026, he celebrated his 84th birthday. And with his 20th solo album – his best in decades – he nevertheless manages to create a surprisingly fresh reflection on the past that neither romanticises nor glosses over anything. His voice may have become a little frail, but as a songwriter he remains unrivalled – with poignant reminiscences of Liverpool and ballads for George Harrison and John Lennon, but also with a swaggering guitar number for Oasis fans. Young producer Andrew Watt serves as the perfect sparring partner, bringing a welcome shot of rock’n’roll adrenaline to the album. For the jury: Manfred Gillig-Degrave
Hard and Heavy
Lunar Shadow: The Pall Of A Past World
CD/LP, Cruz Del Sur Music 8032622211689 (direct distribution)
Despite having no label, no conventional physical release, no promotional campaign and no big-name guest musicians, »Lunar Shadow« have become one of metal’s best-kept secrets. Max Birbaum recorded his band’s fourth album almost single-handedly. As such, »The Pall of a Past World« stays true to his vision of blending classic metal elements with prog, space rock and doom, and delivers catchy tracks like »The Ventures Of Bombadil« and »The Cormorant«. The album is not polished; its appeal lies precisely in its balance between rough edges and craftsmanship. For the jury: Sebastian Kessler
Alternative
The Notwist: News From Planet Zombie
CD/LP, Morr Music MM207 (Indigo)
From Weilheim to the wider world: The Notwist has been making music for almost thirty years. The collective, centred on brothers Markus and Micha Acher, already has fifteen albums to its name. Landmark albums like »Neon Golden« (2002) and »The Devil, You + Me« (2008) are among them. But there have been plenty of other successes, too, including the latest, »News From Planet Zombie«, whose eleven tracks bear little trace of the band’s Upper Bavarian roots. With its confident, unhurried indie pop-rock, played with clarity and subtlety, this album can hold its own on the international stage. For the jury: Jan Ulrich Welke
Club and Dance
Jump Source: Fold
Digital, NAFF 032 (direct distribution)
To fold is to bring things together without erasing their boundaries. That is precisely what Jump Source – Francis Latreille (Priori) and Patrick Holland (Project Pablo) – achieve on their debut album »Fold«, released by NAFF in Montréal. House, UK garage, dub and techno-pop intertwine – not as a stylistic collage, but rather in layers that overlap without becoming indistinguishable. Featuring guests such as Billy Woods, CFCF, BEA1991 and POiSON GiRL FRiEND, the tracks lean towards song form structures without adopting conventional verse-and-chorus structures. Born in the club, yet never merely functional DJ tools, this is music that doesn’t wear its influences on its sleeve, but rather »folds« them into itself. For the jury: Sebastian Hinz
Electronic and Experimental
Lee »Scratch« Perry & Mouse On Mars: Spatial, No Problem.
LP/CD/Digital, Domino Records WIGLP548XM (Integral)
When it comes to wildly unconventional creative projects, the Berlin-based electronic eccentrics »Mouse On Mars« are sought-after specialists. They relish the unfettered collision of ideas – making the duo the perfect partners for dub master Perry. For fifty minutes, they deliver elaborately arranged electro-acoustic instrumental pieces featuring the rousing vocals of the Jamaican music legend. These are explosions of genre-defying colours; ecstatic flights of imagination that overflow with creative energy – a unique celebration of creativity at its most free-spirited. For the jury: Olaf Maikopf
Blues and Blues-related
Bob Corritore & Friends: Ernestine Blues
SWMAF Records SWMAF31 (Bertus)
Harmonica player Bob Corritore is not only an outstanding musician but also (not least thanks to his side ventures as a record producer, radio presenter and club owner) a tireless figure on the blues scene who can draw on a formidable cast of collaborators for his projects. »Ernestine Blues« is firmly rooted in the Chicago tradition, yet remains open to influences from soul, swinging rhythm-and-blues and rock, without tying itself into knots or chasing fashions. This is how tradition stays alive! For the jury: Christian Pfarr
R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop
Vince Staples: Cry Baby
CD/LP/Digital, Loma Vista Records LVR05437 (Universal)
»America the beautiful, I’d like to take a look at you«, raps Vince Staples in the track »Only in America« – before adding that it’s hard to see the stars from behind bars. Whilst his previous albums, »Ramona Park Broke My Heart« and »Dark Times«, were primarily about introspection, the Californian rapper now delivers a sharp diagnosis of American society with »Cry Baby«. What does the future hold for this country? Particularly for Black people – in a society that is in the process of unravelling? Vince Staples doesn’t know either – but he knows exactly what needs to be said. For the jury: Aida Baghernejad
Spoken Word
Werner Fritsch: Mixing Memory And Desire II
... growing up in the 1970s in »Bavarian Siberia«. Sylvester Groth, Angela Winkler, Werner Fritsch, Werner Waas, Martin Engler and others, Music by Werner Cee, Directed by Werner Fritsch. Stream, SWR
The first part of »Mixing Memory & Desire« has already been honoured with an Annual Award from the PdSK. Now the writer Werner Fritsch (born 1960) presents a second work of audio art. And once again, the blend of memory theatre, metaphysical reflection and artful musical design is a delight. Featuring exceptional performers such as Angela Winkler and Sylvester Groth, as well as the author’s own voice, the work creates a masterful journey through a childhood in the 1970s, taking us from the Upper Palatinate into extraordinary worlds of sound and thought. For the jury: Jörn Florian Fuchs
Photo: Werner Fritsch with his brother in the 1970s © Werner Fritsch Filmproduktion
Recordings for Children and Youth
Eva Kranenburg: Freunde
[Friends]. Fabian Busch. Digital, Argon Hörbuch ISBN: 978-3-7324-8490-4 (Argon Verlag)
From the very first sentence, Eva Kranenburg’s »Friends« exerts a powerful, unsettling pull. In the final stages of a lost war, Tarek, Nata, Ren and Tuk desert. They have all experienced terrible things, lost family members and endured hunger. This is the novel’s greatest achievement: Kranenburg tells this sombre story of friendship in warm, almost tender tones. Actor Fabian Busch captures the subtle nuances of the moods and emotions, bringing us close to the characters. At a time of growing militarisation, »Friends« feels like a book for our times – and an outstanding work of young adult fiction. For the jury: Thomas Feibel