Classical

Sarah Connolly, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Hallé Orchestra And Choirs/Kahchun Wong
Mahler Symphony No.2 ‘Resurrection’
Hallé CDHLD7568 (two discs; downloads to 48kHz/24-bit resolution)

This was recorded live at the Bridgewater Hall in January 2025 with undetectable rehearsal patches; it comes with an exemplary booklet which includes some thoughts by the Hallé’s Singaporean-born conductor. It’s a steady performance full of detail but without any superfluous gestures (such as you find in Rouvali’s Philharmonia version). The engineers make a great job of the offstage brass playing, and the heavy forces in the coda, but in the long finale the solo singers are set too forward. And it’s a shame that a great roar of applause comes so hard on the last note. I thought Sarah Connolly’s Urlicht was quite lovely. CB

Sound Quality: 90%

The Nash Ensemble
Ravel Chamber Music
Onyx ONYX4270 (downloads to 192kHz/24-bit resolution)

These Nash recordings – Introduction And Allegro, the String Quartet and Piano Trio, La Valse in the composer’s two-piano version – are dedicated to the memory of founder Amelia Freedman who died in the summer of ’25. They were produced at the Menuhin School by Andrew Keener. The orchestral works may be more popular but moments into the chamber music one is caught up in the sonorities and imaginative momentum. The playing of harpist Lucy Wakeford is certainly a match for Osian Ellis in the classic Melos LP of Introduction And Allegro. And only La Valse struck me as a long haul – not the players’ fault, although Yuja Wang is the one to watch here! CB

Sound Quality: 90%

LPO/Karina Canellakis
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 5 and 6, ‘Pathétique’
LPO Live LPO-0137 (two discs; downloads to 96kHz/24-bit resolution)

These are recordings from the Royal Festival Hall given in March ’23 and November ’24 and conducted by the orchestra’s principal guest conductor. (When a violinist in the Berlin Philharmoniker she was encouraged to take up conducting by Sir Simon Rattle; Karina Canellakis then studied at the Juilliard School.) You can watch the complete slow movement from No.5 on the Internet. Very well played and well recorded, this is an enjoyable coupling – if not, perhaps, in the same league as, say, the famed Mravinsky monos, 1960s Karajan [see p94] or (in No.5) Kempe. I particularly liked what she does in the outer movements of the Pathétique, which prompted several rehearings. CB

Sound Quality: 85%

Mitsuko Uchida
Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1, Sonata No.2, etc
Frederick Chopin Institute NIFCCD668-669 (two discs)

‘When I hear German, I feel at home.’ And Uchida’s reputation is of course largely founded on the music of Austro-German composers Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and also Schoenberg. But her success at the 1970 Warsaw Competition, where she came second to Garrick Ohlsson, was not widely reported. These are tapes from her performances, successfully transferred to CD, which give a fascinating glimpse into her capabilities at 22. You can sometimes sense the challenge of playing in a competition: eg, the sonata finale became more reined-in on her later Philips version. Shorter pieces include the Barcarolle, three Études, Scherzo No.4, and Mazurkas. CB

Sound Quality: 85%