Classical

BPO/Kirill Petrenko
Brahms: Symphony No.1, Tragic Overture
Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings BPHR250561

What draws me to Kirill Petrenko’s conducting is that there are no dead spots. He squeezes the last drop of juice from every chord, bar and phrase. He has also worked out how to harness the silky, muscular power of the BPO without denaturing it. You’d never call this ‘period’ Brahms in sonority: it’s too sleek for that. Yet the taut, moulded pulse and the cantabile, personalised solo phrasing belong to our time. Among Petrenko’s predecessors in No.1, I was reminded of Furtwängler: in the imposing, fateful stature of the introduction, the unrelenting hunt of the main Allegro (Die Walküre in symphonic form) – and the headlong dash for the finale coda. Modern Brahms doesn’t get more box office than this. PQ

Sound Quality: 95%

Vikingur Ólafsson
‘Op.109’ – Works by Bach, Beethoven & Schubert
DG 94867411 (downloads to 192kHz/24-bit res; 2LPs)

Ólafsson’s latest album is presented with his usual, fastidious care for every aspect of the production. His touch and legato at low dynamics, impressive in themselves, reward headphone listening, while his chosen repertoire pursues a searching and meditative course away from and back to Bach in E minor, including an immaculately registered Partita No.6. A little known, perhaps unfinished, Schubert Sonata (D566) encloses violent angst within its ten minutes, before subsiding to a serene close that prepares us for the playful contemplation of the title work, Beethoven’s Sonata Op.109. Ólafsson writes an engaging essay. PQ

Sound Quality: 90%

Choir Of HM Chapel Royal/Jackson
Gibbons: Anthems, Madrigals & Services
Resonus RES10375 (downloads to 192kHz/24-bit res)

If this anniversary survey of Gibbons had been ready in time for my recent Classical Companion [HFN Nov ’25], it would have made the final cut. Gibbons was both a singer and director at the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court, and the frisson of authenticity is burnished by the gentle glow of period-brass accompaniment. The formal elegance of church music such as The Second Service complements the hushed poetry of madrigals including Drop, Drop Slow Tears and the intricate counterpoint of instrumental fantasias and pavans. Capturing plenty of the chapel acoustic itself, the recording places us at a respectful distance from the all-male choir. PQ

Sound Quality: 85%

Harvey/Rubin/Dennis/Williams, Talea Ensemble/Goren
Boulanger/Pugno: La Ville Morte
Pentatone PTC5187492 (two discs; downloads to 96kHz/24-bit res)

Nadia Boulanger co-wrote this opera with her lover at the time, the pianist Raoul Pugno. Then he died in 1913, war broke out, and the score was lost. Meanwhile, Nadia’s sister Lili became known as the more talented composer. The plot by d’Annunzio (forbidden incestuous and fatal love on an archaeological dig) has nothing to do with Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, but there was something about decaying civilisations in the air. If we can judge from this chamber-scale reconstruction for an 11-piece band, the style is opulently post-Pélleas. The young cast carries the show with vibrantly focused singing. PQ

Sound Quality: 80%