Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada—The Festival of the Sound  is celebrating big this summer with an incredible line-up of classical, jazz and choral music, and much more. This year is extra special with two important anniversaries – James Campbell’s 40th as artistic director and the Festival’s 45th in beautiful Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada. Running from July ..read more

Ailbhe McDonagh claims to be the first Irish cellist to have recorded Bach’s six suites. Does that give unique distinction to the lively rhythmic kick in her Gigue movements? Not necessarily, because you hear comparably vital Gigues from non-Irish cellists. And if there’s anything markedly Irish (or German, French, Italian, American, or Martian, for that ..read more

The third release in Jean-Claude Pennetier’s complete Fauré piano music cycle mixes and matches genres in performances that for the most part are intimate and understated. This certainly befits the music’s refined keyboard writing and boundless harmonic sleights-of-hand, especially in the substantial and difficult-to-sustain Nocturne No. 7. His slower-than-usual tempos for the eight Pieces brèves ..read more

Although Masaaki Suzuki’s solo harpsichord Bach recordings span several decades, his technical and musical consistency seems to defy time, as borne out in The Art of Fugue. He continues to use a Willem Kroesbergen harpsichord modeled after a Flemish Baroque-style instrument, whose transparent timbres befit the vocal orientation governing his phrasing. For example, his tempos ..read more

Back in the 1990s it was fashionable for classical musicians to call their concerts or CD releases “The X Project” or “The Y Project”. I thought this fad had long passed into history, yet apparently it refuses to die. Exhibit A: Yundi’s new Mozart release called “The Sonata Project: Salzburg”. A more appropriate title would ..read more

Following his magnificent 2001 recording of J.S. Bach’s Inventions and Sinfonias for BIS, the Japanese harpsichordist/organist/conductor Masaaki Suzuki here offers more revelatory performances of some of Bach’s equally well known (as well as some lesser known) masterpieces. With this collection, simply titled Fantasias & Fugues, Suzuki provides a grand overview of Bach’s lifelong sporadic exploration ..read more

I wager that few Western collectors in the 1970s knew […] To access this content you must login to your Insider account, or purchase a subscription for $5 monthly, or $49 annually ..read more

Why do certain pianists play so fast? Because they can. That crossed my mind while hearing Daniil Trifonov and his erstwhile teacher Sergei Babayan tear through the Rachmaninov Suite No. 2’s Waltz and Tarantella movements at record speed. To their credit, the pianists achieve this feat with the utmost control, as the swirling inner lines ..read more

Every so often a golden-voiced (or is it bronze?, I’m […] To access this content you must login to your Insider account, or purchase a subscription for $5 monthly, or $49 annually ..read more

This reissue of performances from a 1986 release on RPO is arguably the finest among a large group of full-orchestra renditions of Fauré’s Requiem. The full-bodied orchestration is effectively captured, giving the added violins a satiny sheen and, especially in this re-mastering, letting us really feel the presence of the horns, trumpets, and trombones. Even ..read more