Gramophone Magazine November 2021

This edition of Gramophone was almost entirely at the printers when the sad news arrived of the death of Bernard Haitink at the age of 92. A fuller celebration of this remarkable man will thus have to wait for next month, though in the meantime you can find articles new and old about him on our website. These include the tributes offered by some of today’s leading artists, ensembles and labels when we honoured him with our Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Many used the word privilege to describe the experience of working with him; terms like inspiration and devotion appeared frequently; and perhaps getting right to the heart of his approach to music was what András Schiff described as a ‘never-ending search for truth’. Many people – both long-standing admirers…

Martin Cullingford’s pick of the finest recordings from this month’s reviews RECORDING OF THE MONTH PRICE Symphonies Nos 1 & 3 Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin DG EDWARD SECKERSON’S REVIEW IS ON ▸ PAGE 34 The music of Florence Price, neglected for a century, couldn’t have asked for more splendid champions – detail, beauty and thematic sweep run throughout this triumphant DG release. BARTÓK. BEETHOVEN. BERG Violin Concertos Frank Peter Zimmermann vn Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Berliner Philharmoniker A riveting offering of four major concertos from one of today’s very finest violinists, with superb orchestral playing too. ▸ REVIEW ON PAGE 37 BRUCKNER Symphony No 4, ‘Romantic’ Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann Sony Classical One is immediately aware of Christian Thielemann’s deep understanding of this score, one built on 40 years of experience – a magisterial recording. ▸ REVIEW ON PAGE 39 BARBER. RACHMANINOV ‘Muse’ Sheku Kanneh-Mason vc Isata Kanneh-Mason…

The 24-year-old Canadian pianist Bruce (Xiaoyu) Liu has won the 18th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. Following in the footsteps of Seong-Jin Cho, Yulianna Avdeeva, Rafaπ Blechacz and Yundi Li – and of course adding his name to an illustrious list of past winners that includes Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman – Liu’s success brings him not only a substantial financial reward and international recognition, but most significantly a recording contract with DG. The second prize was shared by Alexander Gadjiev (Italy/Slovenia), who recently won the Sydney International Piano Competition, and Kyohei Sorita, who becomes the highest-placed Japanese candidate since Mitsuko Uchida came second in 1970. Gadjiev also won the Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a sonata, for his astonishing third-round presentation of the B…

Bernard Haitink was one of the pre-eminent conductors of our time. Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for 27 years, Music Director of The Royal Opera and of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of more than 450 recordings, his legacy is immense. He received Gramophone’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Born on March 4, 1929 in Amsterdam, he made his conducting debut in 1954 and the following year, stepping in for Carlo Maria Giulini, first conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra. It was an ensemble with which he would develop one of those celebrated conductor-orchestra relationships that was enshrined on disc, largely by Philips. At the heart of a large and wide-ranging repertoire sat the great central works of the…

In a major move for gender equality in choral singing, St John’s College, Cambridge has announced that both girl choristers and female undergraduates will join the choir from 2022. St John’s is one of the world’s leading collegiate choirs, a beacon of choral excellence, and of both tradition and innovation, whether on record, online, through broadcasts and of course through daily services in the college chapel. Founded in the 1670s, the choir consists of around 20 choristers drawn from St John’s College School, who join from the age of eight, and around 16 adult choral scholars who are largely students at St John’s College. These are currently all male. While there are choirs in Cambridge with girl choristers – including Pembroke and St Catharine’s – and many with women adult singers,…

The Gramophone Awards, our annual celebration of the very finest in classical music recording, once again took the form of a film this year, due to the complexities Covid continues to present international travel. Broadcast on October 5, it was recorded in the VOCES8 Centre in the City of London, hosted by Editor-in-Chief James Jolly and pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. They were joined by Award winners including guitarist Sean Shibe, who played Bach after collecting the year’s Instrumental Award, and violinist Alina Ibragimova who performed Paganini, having collected the Concerto Award for her recording of Shostakovich. The video also features some wonderful speeches reflecting on the power and joy of classical recording, from artists including Lifetime Achievement winner Gundula Janowitz and Young Artist of the Year Fatma Said. It will remain…