The Class of 83

This two discs dedicated to the great Paris Symphonies that Haydn composed for Count D'Ogny in the mid-1780s. These were designed for a large and talented ensemble, and the atmospheric, clear and balanced sound achieved by the recording engineers allows for plenty of impact whenever it is required.

John Jenkins: yet another seventeenth century English composer who deserves to be more widely known. This delightful CD from The Consort of Musicke directed by Trevor Jones is no dutiful study of a hidden but rather uninspiring corner of English early Baroque consort music; rather, a mosaic – rich in color and shape, carefully crafted and full of surprises. Listen, for instance, to the unpretentious, jaunty and appropriately figurative progress through the Saraband (52, tr.6) and the restrained melancholy of the Fancy-Air (4, tr.7). Jenkins' counterpoint is well-wrought, his instrumental palette fresh and crisp and his melodies catchy without being fey or superficial in any way. He is in excellent hands with the Consort of Musicke… eight string players of the caliber of Monica Huggett and Alison Crum violins; Alan Wilson organ and Anthony Rooley theorbo. If fresh, beautiful, expertly-played English consort music appeals to you, don't hesitate to get this gem of a CD – actually a reissue of a Decca disc from 1983: it's unreservedly recommended.

“My enthusiasm for Brahms goes back to my youth, and the piano concertos are largely responsible for it,” writes Sir András Schiff in a liner note for this remarkable new recording. It finds the great pianist reassessing interpretive approaches to Brahms in the inspired company of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. To fully bring out the characteristics of Brahms’s music Schiff’s choice of instrument is a Blüthner piano built in Leipzig around 1859, the year in which the D minor concerto was premiered. The historically informed Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment plays with the flexibility, attitude, and responsiveness of a chamber music ensemble, as they work without a conductor, listening attentively to each other. András Schiff’s collaboration with the orchestra in a series of concerts was widely acclaimed: “Brahms’s First Piano Concerto was reborn thanks to the OAE’s incisive playing and András Schiff’s characterful phrasing”, The Guardian exclaimed. The musicians’ mutual wish to recapture the experience led to the present double album, recorded in London in December 2019.

Everybody know that novelty bands have a hard time growing up, but the Presidents of the United States of America made a large leap toward that during their re-formation of 2000, with Freaked Out and Small demonstrating a decrease in their stylized silliness mellowed into something more genuine. It wasn't that the band rocked less, but their humor seemed less forced, a development that continued on 2004's Love Everybody. Evolution continues to be the name of the game on their 2008 follow-up These Are the Good Times People, as the group replaces departing guitarist (and founding member) Dave Dederer with Andrew McKeag, while they bring Seattle underground mainstay Kurt Bloch in as producer, all elements that help make These Are the Good Times People perhaps their most eclectic album to date.

“My enthusiasm for Brahms goes back to my youth, and the piano concertos are largely responsible for it,” writes Sir András Schiff in a liner note for this remarkable new recording. It finds the great pianist reassessing interpretive approaches to Brahms in the inspired company of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. To fully bring out the characteristics of Brahms’s music Schiff’s choice of instrument is a Blüthner piano built in Leipzig around 1859, the year in which the D minor concerto was premiered.

The crowning glory of this collection rests in Frans Brüggen’s marvelous set of the 12 “London” Symphonies. These, along with some of the lesser-known late works, such as Symphonies Nos. 86 and 90 (with its thrilling horn writing), alone justify purchase of this inexpensive 13-disc collection–but really it’s all pretty fine. One of the more anachronistic aspects of the “authentic-instrument” movement has been that works written to be performed without conductor at all (or in collaboration between concertmaster and players) receive the loving ministrations of “specialists” such as Brüggen (and Harnoncourt, for example) whose inclinations in terms of tempo manipulation and expressive phrasing could make a Stokowski blush. And so we find a finale of Symphony No. 88 that’s even slower than Karl Böhm’s, and when you come right down to it, it’s none the worse for the experience: it makes up in charm what it lacks in sheer energy.

Following TSOP's first Omnibus box set subtitled "The Early Years" from 2018, this new set contains the albums On We Sail (2017), Archiviarum (2018), Toki No Kaze (2019) and Beyond the Wardrobe (2020) with five bonus tracks.
A must for the festive period when one can spoil one-self, beautiful presentation mini LP style card box sleeve package with extensive booklet as ever by Ed Unitsky. 4 disc with bonus tracks, symphonic prog of the highest quality. Limited issue so don't miss out.