What the papers say...

Bruckner Symphony no. 4
Minnesota Orchestra / Vänskä
Bis BISSACD1746
Vänskä shows that Bruckner’s last thoughts on his most popular symphony deserve to be heard...The performance has a sense of missionary zeal about it, too – predominantly swift tempi, fiercely worked climaxes and a real dramatic charge, all underpinned by exceptional orchestral playing.
- The Guardian

Janáček The Excursions of Mr Brouček
Soloists; Opera Chorus and Orchestra of the National Theater in Prague / Neumann
Supraphon SU39852 (2CD)
Neumann and the Orchestra of the Prague National Theatre make radiant sense of Janáček’s quirky effects while finding a seductive lyricism. The 1960s are remembered as a golden era for Czech opera, and this performance shows why.
- The Financial Times

Monteverdi The Coronation of Poppea
Baker; Pring; Collins; Ferguson; McDonnell; Sadler’s Wells Opera / Leppard
Chandos CHAN3172 (2CD)
In historical terms, this recording stands as a powerful and attractive monument to those epoch-making clashes between musicality and musicology that kick-started the early music boom to the benefit of all.
- BBC Music Magazine

Bohemian Rhapsodies
Fell Clarinet Quartet
Delphian DCD34083
The Manchester-based group makes a distinctive sound, pungent and perky, superbly captured in this full-bodied recording. Arrangements from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos piano pieces vividly expose the music’s folk roots, while Sayer’s klezmer melodies bristle with virtuoso thrills...
- The Times