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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Classical Highlights for April 2026


Our new reviewers have been thrown into the huge world of latest Classical recordings and are discovering their footings. A few of the highlights they discovered this month embrace literature-inspired music by composer-conductor Daníel Bjarnson, carried out by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (pictured); a program of Artwork Noveau piano trios by Trio Wanderer; and a few meticulously sung, calming music for a night service by The King’s Singers. There are additionally the perpetual favourite composers — J.S. Bach, Mahler, and Brahms, to call simply three — among the many new releases, together with a restored recording by Sir Edward Elgar main his personal Enigma Variations.

April Classical Reviews
April Classical Evaluations

Piotr Anderszewski – Brahms: Late Piano Works

Giovanni Antonini, Kammerorchester Basel – Haydn 2032, No. 18: Il maestro di scuola

Martin James Bartlett, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Howard Griffiths – Concertos: Bach, Mozart, Britten

Olivia Belli – Belli: ‘Daimon’ Piano Concerto; Ithaca Suite; Sonatina for Nausicaa

Daníel Bjarnason, Iceland Symphony Orchestra – The Grotesque & The Chic

Café Zimmermann, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian – Vivaldi: Masques

Calidore String Quartet – American Tapestry

Renaud Capuçon – Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas & Partitas

Thibault Cauvin – Alter Ego

Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann – Mild out of Darkness: Choral Music by Elgar

Stella Chen, Academy of St Martin within the Fields, Jean-Jacques Kantorow – Beethoven & Barber: Violin Concertos

Fabrizio Chiovetta – Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 116-119

Imogen Cooper – Beethoven: The Final Three Sonatas

Christoph Croise, Past Fashionable Orchestra, Daniel Schnyder – Daniel Schnyder: Cello Concerto; Concerto Populaire

Alexandra Dariescu, Academy of St. Martin within the Fields – A Baby’s Dream

Grace Davidson, Julian Perkins – A Thousand Charms

Gaspard Dehaene – Fauré en Héritage

Lea Desandre, Jupiter, Thomas Dunford – Songs of Ardour

Frank Dupree, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, HK Gruber – HK Gruber: Piano Concerto; Brief Tales from the Vienna Woods; Castles within the Air

Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Henry Wooden – Elgar: From the Archives, Vol. 1

Jennifer France, Wallis Giunta, HK Gruber – Weill: The Seven Lethal Sins

Eliza Garth – By the River: Works for piano solo

Gustavo Gimeno, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra – Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Concerto for Orchestra

Neal Goren, Talea Ensemble, Melissa Harvey, Laurie Rubin – Nadia Boulanger: La ville morte

Gould Piano Trio – Franz Schubert: Piano Trios, Vol. 2

Amy Harman, Tom Poster – Bassoonist’s Songbook

Linda Hedlund, La Tempesta Orchestra, József Hárs – Finnish Works for Violin and Orchestra

Heinz Holliger, Marie-Lise Schüpbach – con slancio

Huddersfield Choral Society, Opera North Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins – Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius

Ruby Hughes, Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann, Jonas Nordberg – Amidst the Shades

Steven Isserlis, Connie Shih – 1851: Schumann & Moscheles Sonatas

Victor Jacob, Isaure Brunner, Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin – Gabriel Fauré: Requiem

Neeme Järvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – Alfvén: Festspel; Suite from ‘Gustaf II Adolf’; Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus

Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No. 9

The King’s Singers – Head House: Candlelight

Anna Lapwood, Chapel Choir of Pembroke School, Cambridge – Come up, Shine

Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Andrew Staples, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth – Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Yunchan Lim – Bach: Goldberg Variations – Stay at Carnegie Corridor

Eric Lu – Schubert: The Impromptus Opp. 90 & 142

James McVinnie – Bach: Clavier-Übung III

The Choir of Magdalen School, Oxford; Mark Williams – Come up my love: Music for the Break of Day

Julien Martineau, Victor Hugo Orchestre, Jean-François Verdier – La Cinquième Saison: Apparailly, Vivaldi, Beffa

Kenji Miura – Heimat: Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms

Alice Sara Ott – Jóhann Jóhannsson: Piano Works

Charles Owen – De Profundis: Liszt, Franck

Luciano Pavarotti – The Misplaced Live performance

Luciano Pavarotti – Novanta

Georges Prête, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR – Fauré: Requiem; Poulenc: Gloria

Roberto Prosseda – Georges Bizet: The Piano Works

Choir of the Queen’s School, Oxford; Owen Rees – The Crown of Life: Leighton, Clarke, Holst, Darke

Daniel Reuss, Cappella Amsterdam, Noord Nederlands Orkest – Igor Stravinsky: Late Works

Esa-Pekka Salonen, San Francisco Symphony – Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1

Ole Schmidt, London Symphony Orchestra – Havergal Brian: Symphony No. 1 ‘The Gothic’

Christian Schmitt, Bamberger Symphoniker, Fabien Gabel – César Franck: Grande Pièce Symphonique; Les Éolides; Charles-Marie Widor: La Nuit de Walpurgis

Aristo Sham – Timeline

Hayato Sumino – Chopin Orbit

Trio Barclay – Past the Pacific: Seyfried, Wineglass, Nice

Trio Ernest, Eleonore Billy – Great Adventures of Amanda Maier

Trio Wanderer – Artwork Nouveau: French Chamber Music Round 1900

Nobuyuki Tsujii – Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky

Dénes Várjon – Dénes Várjon performs Bela Bartók

Voces8 – Twenty

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Kenneth Kellogg, Opera Lafayette Orchestra, Patrick Dupre Quigley – Edmond Dédé: Morgiane, ou, Le Sultan d’Ispahan

John Wilson, Xiayin Wang, Peter Dixon, Sinfonia of London – MacDowell, Vol. 2: Piano Concerto No. 2; Romanze; Suite; Hamlet; Ophelia

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