Table of contents for April 2018 in Gramophone Magazine

Such are the long lead times of monthly magazines – and, more to the matter, the vagaries of the weather – that we completed our annual festival guide this year while snow fell steadily and travel was generally discouraged. Never has reading about interval picnics on country-house lawns, let alone hikes up to mountainside sculptures for late-night solo Bach, seemed so far removed from the reality outside. But, in a strange way, what makes music festivals so special is, indeed, that sense of being removed from reality. We all have our own favourite memories of music festivals – what are yours? I’d hazard a guess that landscape, setting and even weather are as integral to those evocative recollections as the music-making. From one festival alone – Aldeburgh – I can…

The Listening Room James Jolly’s playlist and blog series ‘The Listening Room’ is the perfect place to discover the most interesting new classical recordings as soon as they are released and also to enjoy classic recordings by legendary artists. Each new episode in ‘The Listening Room’ series is created every week across three streaming platforms – Qobuz, Spotify and Apple Music – and each episode is accompanied by a blog in which James explores the music he has selected and draws fascinating and unexpected musical connections between a diverse range of recordings. New installments appear every Friday, and it is a wonderful way to discover new music and recordings at a time when the almost limitless amount of music available to us online can, on occasion, be a bit daunting.…

I’m always looking for some interesting new repertoire, but it was quite unexpected to find Louis Couperin and this amazing collection of pieces. I didn’t know much about him, nor had heard anything except the odd piece. It’s very rare to discover something so strong. He is very unique; there are several styles and points of view mixing together in his music. You can hear different influences: the harpsichord, lute music, singing, and also an unusual German influence that comes from Couperin’s obsession with Froberger. It’s already Baroque, yet most of the time one can hear Renaissance too. This music is on the edge in many respects. I must say that I had no intention at all of making my piano sound like a harpsichord. Absolutely not. I don’t see the…

‘I was listening to old recordings of me playing Schnittke and Shostakovich and thinking, “Jeez! Did I really play all that stuff?”’ Awaiting the arrival of Paul Lewis in the room at the back of Berlin’s Teldex Studios on a freezing January morning, I’m struck by how quiet it is – almost unsettlingly so. When he appears, he offers a warm greeting before helping himself to a coffee. As we take our seats to start chatting, he radiates a certain relaxation – the main part of the recording is behind him; topping, tailing and listening back is all that’s left to be done. In conversation Lewis, now 45, is considered and eloquent, picking words carefully; his answers to questions are efficient rather than expansive. He’s happy, I realise as I listen…

Der Meister und Margarita Soloists; Cologne Opera Chorus; Gürzenich Orchestra, Cologne Philharmonic / Lothar Zagrosek Col Legno (1/01) Warmly received at its Paris premiere (and then in 1991 in Cologne, whence this recording is taken), what is likely to remain Höller’s only opera renders the disquieting essence of Bulgakov’s novel (set against the backdrop of Stalin’s purges) in exhilarating terms. Zagrosek’s reading lacks nothing in theatrical immediacy. This is one of the seminal operas from the past 50 years. Sphären. Der ewige Tag WDR Radio Chorus and WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne / Semyon Bychkov NEOS This is a welcome coupling of two of Höller’s most significant pieces from the first decade of this century. Der ewige Tag draws on poems by three writers from different times and cultures, while Sphären…

Richard Wigmore hears a Porpora rarity from Cencic and co: ‘Creaky action and two-dimensional characterisation would not have bothered Roman audiences one iota’ REVIEW ON PAGE 111 Mike Ashman welcomes a Dutch Rosenkavalier: ‘Peter Rose’s Ochs is strong of both rustic accent and aristocratic mien, never a clown but pointedly funny’ REVIEW ON PAGE 115 Gasparini ‘The Gasparini Album’ Amleto – D’ire armato. Astianatte – Se la Grecia s’armerà. Atalia – Ombre care. Bajazette – Par che mi nasca in seno. Il Ciro – Nell’orror della procella. Engelberta – Sinfonia. L’oracolo del Fato – Qui ti scrivo o nome amato; Se non canti più per me. Il Roderigo – Non ha incendio; Non vo lasciarti più. Santa Eufrosina – Qui dal porto d’ocean. Il Tamerlano – Cor di padre; Svena uccidi. Cantata, ‘Andate…

Brahms and Variations This first listening journeys prompted by this month’s Brahms from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra takes in six sets of Brahms’s variations, a form that fascinated him throughout his composing life, ranging from his Op 1 (the First Piano Sonata with its second-movement set of variations) to his Op 120 (the Second Clarinet Sonata’s finale). His first exploration of the form for piano is the Variations on a Hungarian Song from 1835. It draws great energy from the alternating 3/4 and 4/4 bars, allied to a robustness that, surprisingly, offers considerable scope for elaboration (try Julius Katchen from his classic Decca set). The next set, the Variations on a theme by Schumann, Op 19, is a much stronger work, drawing on the fourth of Schumann’s Op 99 Bunte Blätter.…

This sounds like the Bruckner Second that Furtwängler never recorded Masters of Bruckner In case you didn’t catch them first time round, Scribendum’s two ‘The Art of Konwitschny’ boxes – SC504 (Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra stereo recordings, 1959-62) and SC505 (mono recordings with various orchestras, 1950-59) – have now been amalgamated into a single 20-CD set. Collectors with good memories and keen ears will gratefully recall the German conductor’s stereo cycles of the Beethoven and Schumann symphonies, the former notable for its generosity when it comes to the matter of repeats. In fact, I can’t recall any other ‘old-style’ (in other words, fairly marmoreal) Eroica that does include it’s first-movement exposition repeat. Also played are the Seventh Symphony’s first-movement repeat and the repeat in the finale of the Fifth. Schumann’s symphonies, plus his…

Gluck Like Orfeo ed Euridice, Le Cinesi (‘The Chinese Ladies’) is an azione teatrale. It was first staged in 1754 before the Empress Maria Theresa and her family, the libretto provided by Metastasio. That production was extravagantly designed by Giovanni Maria Quaglio; this performance from Valencia is a simple concert, the four singers ranged behind the small orchestra. There’s no plot to speak of. Lisinga, Sivene and Tangia are wondering how to alleviate their boredom. When Silango appears – he’s the brother of Lisinga and lover of Sivene – they decide to adopt European manners and indulge in some acting. Each sings an aria in turn, after which they unite in a quartet. Lisinga goes first, with an accompanied recitative and aria expressing Andromache’s despair at Pyrrhus’s threat to kill…

Chord Mojo/Poly You can have your network player built into a mini-system, in an AV receiver or even in a pocketable player, such as the Chord Mojo/Poly package reviewed last month. Selling for £898 together, the two give not just network streaming but also a DAC/headphone amplifier, and can even play music stored on memory cards. More details from chordelectronics.co.uk. Cambridge Audio CXN(V2) Cambridge Audio’s CXN(V2) sells for around £800 and offers streaming capability up to DSD64, as well as compatibility with radio streams up to 320kbps. See cambridgeaudio.com. Bluesound Node 2 Bluesound’s Node 2 takes streaming even further – it’s designed to become part of a multiroom system capable of streaming music all round the house, working with other BluOS components and selected NAD hi-fi components. It sells for…

Currentzis’s Tchaikovsky … Peter Quantrill’s characteristically thoughtful review (January, page 30) of Teodor Currentzis’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony prompted me not only to hear it for myself, but also to recall the 1991 Virgin Classics account (which I produced) by Mikhail Pletnev and his newly formed Russian National Orchestra, a recording which PQ also admires in his review. They were memorable sessions, a landmark ‘first’ by a new ensemble created against the background of Gorbachev’s glasnost. The astonishing balance of intense preparation and high- octane execution threatened to dislodge loose plaster from the ceiling of South London’s Blackheath Hall, shabby before imminent renovation and thick (in the foyer at least) with the smoke of potent Russian cigarettes. I also recall that not all of the brass players were yet…

Birgit Nilsson, 100 years on Mike Ashman celebrates the enduring legacy of the Swedish soprano –and you can too, courtesy of a free CD previewing an anniversary box set due from Sony Classical and the Birgit Nilsson Foundation. Roderick Williams: a unique Winterreise The British baritone is on a mission with his new, English-language Schubert Andrew Nethsingha on Vaughan Williams The Director of Music at St John’s, Cambridge talks about his choir’s new recording project GRAMOPHONE ON SALE APRIL 25 DON’T MISS IT!…

‘Visiting Berlin’s Philharmonie is always a joy,’ says JAMES JOLLY ‘and sitting through a performance under Robin Ticciati of Bruckner’s Sixth in the empty hall was the cherry on the cake. Afterwards, I caught up with him, a conductor I’ve long admired and have been following for quite a while.’ ‘The finest recorded performances remind us that Handel composed Saul in a state of feverish excitement,’ writes our Collection author RICHARD WIGMORE . ‘Prolonged immersion only enhanced my passion for a work whose range and depth merit the over-used adjective Shakespearean.’ ‘Pierre-Laurent Aimard could not have been a more charming and helpful guide through a masterpiece that had always intimidated me,’ says PETER QUANTRILL of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux. ‘The Musician and the Score is a perfect title for the synthesis…

Each month, Gramophone will be teaming up with medici.tv to offer a selection of recommended films. This year the music of Claude Debussy (pictured) is very much in our minds (he died in 1918) – scarcely a hardship as he left us some of the most incandescent and rewarding music of the early years of the 20th century. His works therefore feature in this month’s selection; from the gloriously evocative seascape that is La mer (conducted by Charles Munch), via the infinitely inventive chamber and piano music (Nelson Freire), to his astounding opera Pelléas et Mélisande (from the Opéra National de Paris in Robert Wilson’s staging), we’ve chosen some superb performances. In other news, Christa Ludwig turned 90 on March 16 and we celebrate this great mezzo in a performance of Schubert’s Winterreise. There’s also music from Gramophone’s…

Thomas Søndergárd has just this month recorded a programme of Strauss with the RSNO, inaugurating a new series featuring this conductor-orchestra partnership (Søndergard takes over as Principal Conductor in September). The recording – of works including Ein Heldenleben and Der Rosenkavalier Suite – is released on Linn in the spring to coincide with a US tour. • Countertenor Andrew Watts was at Potton Hall, Suffolk, last month for a ‘Countertenor Songbook’ with pianist Iain Burnside. The resulting recording, on NMC, will be released later this year. • Sir John Eliot Gardiner has just recorded Schumann’s Symphonies Nos 2 and 4 with the LSO for the first instalment of his new Schumann cycle. The works were recorded live in concert at the Barbican on March 11 and 15, and, together with the…

The dramatic and somewhat predictably mixed reaction to Barrie Kosky’s staging of Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House recently (a show first seen in Frankfurt in 2016) once again raised questions as to how far opera has come and where it might be going as a living, breathing, theatrical art form. The DVDs reviewed regularly in these pages enshrine a phantasmagorical assortment of creative takes on mostly established classics of the operatic stage. More often than not the focus of rediscovery is on a relatively small core repertoire. Some of these rediscoveries push the envelope wilfully, some hardly bear scrutiny, others make one think differently about a piece, illuminating aspects of it that other productions simply don’t or cannot reach. But most merit at least one viewing and a few…

Andrew Mellor is intrigued by Rautavaara’s cello sonatas: ‘The First Sonata is carpet-bombed by fist-shaped piano clusters before it embarks on a moving process of recovery’ REVIEW ON PAGE 75 Andrew Farach-Colton admires the Stradivari Quartet’s Schumann: ‘The Stradivari never fail to produce a rich, red-blooded sound, even in the most ferociously difficult passages’ REVIEW ON PAGE 77 Bloch Violin Sonatasa – No 1; No 2, ‘Poème mystique’. Piano Sonata a Nurit Stark vn Cédric Pescia pf Claves F 50-1705 (70’ • DDD) Look on Ernest Bloch’s reputation, ye mighty, and despair. In 1957 Bloch merited an entire chapter to himself in Alec Robertson’s Chamber Music (Shostakovich got a single paragraph and Janácek a grand total of three sentences). Now: well, if his violin sonatas aren’t entirely unknown on disc, they’re not…

Harriet Smith welcomes Nikolai Lugansky’s Rachmaninov Preludes: ‘He has the requisite technique in spades, and most importantly he is emotionally completely attuned to this music’ REVIEW ON PAGE 89 Charlotte Gardner enjoys a solo disc from Michael Barenboim: ‘Shimmering figures sound like little fractals of sunlight catching the floating dust particles – it’s incredibly atmospheric’ REVIEW ON PAGE 90 JS Bach English Suite No 1, BWV806 – Prelude. French Suites: No 1, BWV812 – Gigue; No 3, BWV814 – Menuet; No 5, BWV816 – Allemande; No 6, BWV817 – Sarabande; Courante; Polonaise. Keyboard Partitas: No 1, BWV825 – Gigue; No 2, BWV826 – Sinfonia; Sarabande; No 4, BWV828 – Aria; Allemande; No 5, BWV829 – Tempo di minuetto; No 6, BWV830 – Corrente Fred Thomas pf Odradek F ODRCD357 (53’…

Fabrice Fitch welcomes a debut disc from The Gesualdo Six: ‘As one has come to expect given such a pedigree, the vocal quality is very fine, not to say superb’ REVIEW ON PAGE 102 Alexandra Coghlan listens to Shakespeare-inspired Polish music: ‘The folk energy and primal rhythmic thrust of Bembinow’s Sonnet make a welcome contrast to the contemplative responses’ REVIEW ON PAGE 104 JS Bach Mass in B minor, BWV232 Katherine Watson sop Tim Mead counterten Reinoud Van Mechelen ten André Morsch bass Les Arts Florissants / William Christie Harmonia Mundi B 2 HAF890 5293/4 (105’ • DDD • T/t) Recorded live at the Philharmonie de Paris, September 2016 The mystical ideal of waiting to perform late, great art until well into pensionable age may apply to pianists and conductors of yesteryear but hardly…

Think of the two collections as generously filled Debussy hobbyist ‘tool boxes’ How complete is ‘complete’? Two major anniversary box-sets explore Debussy’s music in great depth – Rob Cowan unpacks them To posit a claim of ‘completeness’ is tantamount to throwing down a very conspicuous gauntlet. Invariably there’s something that someone somewhere will complain hasn’t been included. Here, we have two neatly packaged sets, both carrying the impressive legend ‘The Complete Works’. DG comes clean by stating that its Edition ‘contains at least one version of all the composer’s music published in his lifetime as well as some posthumously issued juvenilia and fragmentary works’. By comparison, Warner announces a rather more ambitious project, claiming: ‘the Complete Edition brings together all Debussy’s known works,’ then go on to excuse the exclusion…

Beethoven Symphony No 7 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlos Kleiber DG Kleiber’s Seventh Symphony is much more obviously controversial than his Fifth, destined, I suspect, to divide opinion on both sides of the Channel. As an interpretation it is closely modelled on his father’s fine reading. (There is even the same controversial pizzicato end to the Allegretto, rather limply done here.) In general style and voltage, though, the performance emulates the classic Toscanini set of 1936. Not an ounce of excess tone is left on the Vienna Philharmonic sound. Gone is the distinctive, middle-European texturing of Schmidt-Isserstedt’s beautifully played (and superbly grammatical) Decca reading. Even the recording seems self-consciously spare and monochromatic. The finale, admittedly, is a tour de force. Only one thing strikes me as being incongruous here and that is…

Royal College of Music, London & BBC Four BBC Young Musician of the Year Exact broadcast details for the BBC Young Musician weren’t confirmed as we went to press, but what we can tell you is that the BBC launches its coverage of the competition in April. Open to string, percussion, woodwind, brass and keyboard players under the age of 18, the winner of which receives a cash prize of £3000. Each finalist also receives the support of a two-year aftercare scheme paid for by the BBC and run by the Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT). The 2016 edition of this major biennial BBC competition was won by the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, following in the footsteps of luminaries such as the pianist Benjamin Grosvenor and the violinists Jennifer Pike and…

The word from the annual CES in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year was that hi-fi was (even) thinner on the ground, although there’s little sign that the industry as a whole is ready to put up the shutters. From high-quality amplifiers to innovative network music players, there’s plenty to keep us interested. For those seeking great sound in a compact form, Astell & Kern – best known for its range of portable players – has launched the striking-looking ACRO L1000 1 , a combined DAC/amplifier designed to drive either headphones or speakers in a desktop or other compact system. Using the same AK4490 DACs as in the company’s high-end pocket players, the £799 ACRO L1000 has a USB input and can handle PCM-based audio up to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD in native…

Everyone’s doing it – going multiroom, that is. From a couple of brands offering whole-house audio a few years ago, now it seems almost every company either has, or is planning, systems to spread your music round the home. Investing in such technology is a major move for any company, so it’s perhaps surprising to see a relatively specialist manufacturer like Electrocompaniet moving into this arena. Previously best known for its high-end, somewhat purist products, the company has been in business for around 40 years from its base in Stavanger, and what we have here are two line-ups of products as part of a new EC Living line. While neither offers anything we haven’t seen before from other brands – there’s an all-in-one streaming speaker plus an add-on to give…

When you train as an Indian classical dancer, you normally learn two disciplines side by side: how to dance and how to play the tabla [a pair of drums used in traditional Indian music]. But my teacher wanted me to learn tabla first and, since there were always people performing at my parents’ house, it wasn’t long before I was accompanying them. I was only a child then, but I’d be playing well into the night. I didn’t just listen to Indian classical music though. I loved Michael Jackson, rap, hip hop … My mother was studying at university and also working at Decca in the evenings, and she would bring home scratched records of Tom Jones, Cliff Richards and Abba. But my dad liked watching these Bollywood films on VHS, and if my mother…

JS Bach Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas, BWV1001-1006 Johnny Gandelsman vn In a Circle F 2 ICR101 (124’ • DDD) Bach’s Violin Sonatas and Partitas are among the most frequently performed works for the instrument, or any instrument. Recordings evince a spectrum of approaches, from historical treatments on period instruments to concepts Romantic and beyond. Among the newest journeys is Johnny Gandelsman’s freshly considered account of these monuments. The violinist, a co-founder of the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, imbues the music with a lean, focused sound, animating rhythmic impulses, and sterling attention to line and harmonic implication. Gandelsman plays his modern violin with gut strings, transitional bow and whispers of vibrato, offering something of a crossover view of the Sonatas and Partitas. The performances abound…

RECORDING OF THEMONTH RACHMANINOV  The Bells. Symphonic Dances Sols; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Mariss Jansons BR-Klassik GEOFFREY NORRIS’S REVIEW IS ON PAGE 50 When the author of a Collection article elevates a new recording above his longstanding benchmark version – as reviewer Geoffrey Norris does here – you know it’s something very special indeed. MAHLER Symphony No 1 Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra / Adám Fischer AVI-Music There’s a palpable excitement from critic Edward Seckerson about this developing Mahler series, and justifiably so, the performances underpinned by an evident rapport between Fischer and his orchestra. REVIEW ON PAGE 61 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphonies Nos 5 & 6 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Andrew Manze Onyx Andrew Manze discussed his deep and longstanding affection for Vaughan Williams’s music in last month’s issue; that…

The 28-year old Norwegian violinist’s performing career began very early – together with her sister Ranghild she was a famous child prodigy in her homeland, giving her first performance with the Bergen Philharmonic aged just 11. But her recording career now takes a big step forward with her first solo album, released on the BIS label to which she recently signed. Half of the record is Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No 1; its coupling, however, is a largely forgotten work – Hjalmar Borgstrøm’s Violin Concerto in G major, first heard in 1914. Its sense of Norwegian identity clearly resonates with Hemsing, who speaks of its ‘simple lyrical melodies and distinctive harmonies which conjure up the sound of the Hardanger fiddle. And for me that conjures up the image of the untouched, raw beauty of…

You’re one of several musicians contributing to this Debussy sonata disc … I am only one piece of the puzzle, so this recording has been the simplest I’ve ever done! We did it in one day, back in January at Berlin’s Teldex Studios. It was a very different experience compared to recording an entire CD and having to immerse yourself in another space and time. I normally find recordings quite exhausting, but this one was actually very enjoyable. This was the first time you’d ever worked with pianist Javier Perianes … Javier and I have known each other for a long while but we’ve never recorded together, or even played concerts together so I was a bit nervous! I have actually recorded this sonata before, with Alexandre Tharaud, but it’s an important piece in the…

UK FESTIVALS Aldeburgh Festival June 8-24 The festival celebrates its 70th birthday this year and has a number of events linked to its launch year of 1948, along with an overarching festival theme of Britten and America, as well as the centenary of Leonard Bernstein. Artists-in-residence for 2018 include violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, conductor John Wilson and flautist Claire Chase, each curating part of the programme. Highlights include the world premieres of Emily Howard’s new opera To See the Invisible, and Colin Matthews’s orchestration of Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo. There is also an eight-choir Mass setting performed by Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet. Among other highlights, on the final weekend Bryn Terfel makes his festival debut. snapemaltings.co.uk Bampton Classical Opera July 20-21, The Deanery Garden, Bampton  August 27, The…

Jeremy Nicholas on Denis Matsuev’s mixed Prokofiev and Rachmaninov: ‘Matsuev’s abrasive vehemence pays dividends in a performance of Prokofiev that captures the music’s sardonic character’ REVIEW ON PAGE 62 Mark Pullinger enjoys Stravinsky’s Rite from Krzysztof Urbański: ‘Urbański’s bassoonist begins with the longest held opening note I’ve heard, before coiling into a truly mournful wail’ REVIEW ON PAGE 66 JS Bach Violin Concertos – BWV1041; BWV1042; BWV1052; BWV1060a Frank Peter Zimmermann, a Serge Zimmermann vns Berlin Baroque Soloists Hänssler Classic F HC17046 (61’ • DDD) Frank Peter Zimmerman has slipped in a couple of less predictable offerings for this Bach violin concertos programme, because while he opens with the famous A minor, BWV1041, and E major, BWV 1042, neither of the D minor concertos occupying the disc’s second half is the famous ‘Double’. Instead he’s…

Jazz Kurt Elling The Questions OKeh Records F 8898 549283-2 With an eclectic song list that ranges from Bob Dylan and Paul Simon to standards and originals, The Questions presents Kurt Elling’s musical response to our troubled times. His take on Dylan’s end of days epic, album opener ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’, is a coup de théâtre, the singer declaiming the apocalyptic verses with the potency of an Old Testament prophet. Previously recorded on 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project, Elling revisits Simon’s ‘American Tune’ as a sorrowing chorale, with lines such as “Still when I think of the road we’re travelling on, I wonder what’s gone wrong?” reverberating especially strongly. In beautiful arrangements of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Washing of the Water’, Carla Bley’s ‘Lawns’, ‘Lonely Town’ and ‘Skylark’, the…

Richard Bratby reads a monograph on Beethoven’s cello sonatas: ‘These five experimental works resemble a series of geological samples from crucial points in Beethoven’s creative development’ Patrick Rucker on an illuminating study of Liszt’s symphonic poems: ‘The more we learn about Weimar’s less than ideal conditions, Liszt’s tenacity seems all the more remarkable’ Beethoven’s Cello Five Revolutionary Sonatas and Their World By Marc D Moskovitz and R Larry Todd Boydell Press, HB, 274pp, £29.95 ISBN 978-1-7832-7237-2 Beethoven’s cello sonatas Op 102 (or, as he termed them, sonatas for piano and cello) baffled his contemporaries. ‘These two sonatas are surely amongst the most remarkable and strange piano works written in a long time, not only in this form but altogether for the pianoforte’, wrote the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1818. ‘Everything here is different,…

Once, the streaming arena was very simple. On one hand you had the high-end network audio solutions from the likes of Linn and Naim, best considered as dealer-installation propositions but capable of striking performance; on the other were simple mini-systems from the big mass-audio brands, able to do the basics of music from a network server, computer or internet radio and designed for the casual listener. As the market has matured, however, the two have moved closer together and the major names of audio – as opposed to the high-end – have launched ever more upmarket offerings, providing wide-ranging compatibility with both different file formats and a range of streaming services. The player we have here, Pioneer’s £1199 N-70AE, is typical of this new breed, along with the new Marantz…

Writing this as the massive CES 2018 consumer electronics event recedes into memory, and before the European hi-fi show calendar really kicks into gear, it’s hard not to feel that specialist audio and in particular high-end audio – is at something of a crossroads. Certainly the feedback from the show in Las Vegas was mixed, to say the least: there were still the massive stands from the major players in consumer electronics, such as LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, but also a lot more attention being grabbed by large displays and events from the likes of Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, Renault/Nissan/ Mitsubishi and so on. Meanwhile the specialist audio companies – which some years back filled not only their own hotel but also spilled out into a large ‘outboard’ show, then moved to occupying…

RAIMUND HERINCX Bass-baritone Born August 23, 1927 Died February 10, 2018 Born in London, though trained in Belgium and Milan, Raimund Herincx was an admired singer on the UK and international musical scene for nearly four decades. Known for his crystal-clear diction, firm bass-baritone voice and commanding stage presence, he made his stage debut in 1950 (as Figaro in Mozart’s opera at Welsh National Opera) and by the end of the decade was singing Count Almaviva, to great acclaim, at Sadler’s Wells. From the late 1950s onwards he was a frequent member of Sadler’s Wells’ casts and sang over 40 different parts including Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and many Italian roles. At Covent Garden he was seen as Escamillo (Carmen), Alfio (Cavalleria rusticana) and as Macbeth. By the…

Was it a challenge to plunge straight into Bach for your first solo recording? Not really. Over the the last three years I’ve performed all six Sonatas and Partitas in concert about 30 times, which has been deeply rewarding. I wanted to capture this moment of personal learning and growth. Does your varied musical diet – folk, jazz, classical – influence your approach to Bach? Absolutely. Through my work with Brooklyn Rider and Silk Road Ensemble I have been lucky to work with incredible masters of various non-classical traditions. When working on the opening movement of the G minor Sonata, for example, I tried to imagine how the great Iranian kemancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor would approach and develop an improvisation. When working on the Partitas, I often thought of the incredible Irish fiddler Martin Hayes. Like…