Every day, YourClassical’s programming team (music director Joe Goetz and associate music directors Jennifer Allen and Robin Gehl) listen to dozens of recordings as they create our daily radio playlists and on-demand streams. Here are some of their favorites for August 2024.

Isata Kanneh-Mason: Mendelssohn (Decca)
British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason has long been a champion of rarely played women composers. Her first album, Romance, celebrated the strong and influential pianist and composer Clara Schumann, and her most recent recording, Mendelssohn, shines the spotlight on Fanny Mendelssohn. The older sister to Felix was a talented and prolific composer, despite the societal limitations forced on women during her lifetime. Her Easter Sonata was initially believed to have been composed by Felix, until recent research revealed that the manuscript was in her handwriting. Kanneh-Mason approaches the sonata’s heavy topic of the Passion of Christ with power and tenderness. The music is quite dramatic and energetic but also introspective, with a gentle Bach-like fugue in the second movement and a peaceful ending based on a Bach chorale. More familiar works by Felix fill out the disc — a handful of short pieces, selections from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in transcriptions by powerhouse pianists Sergei Rachmaninoff and Moritz Moszkowski that seem to capture every note of Mendelssohn’s orchestration, a Song Without Words beefed up by Franz Liszt. The other substantial piece on this recording is a fiery performance of Felix’s first Piano Concerto with the London Mozart Players. — Jennifer Allen

Chloe Chua, violin, with Singapore Symphony Orchestra: Butterfly Lovers and Paganini (Pentatone)
Teenage violinist Chloe Chua presents her tuneful sophomore album, Butterfly Lovers & Paganini, partnering with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and conductors Rodolfo Barráez and Mario Venzago. Chua, now 17, initially achieved acclaim after winning first prize at the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists. She has toured and competed around the world, and she appeared in the 2024 PBS Great Performances episode, “Now Hear This — Rising Stars.” For the past two seasons, she performed concerts with the SSO as artist in residence. Composed in 1959 by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao while they were students at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Butterfly Lovers violin concerto was inspired by a story known as the Romeo and Juliet of ancient China. The violin’s storytelling unfolds over seven sections, and the piece is one of the most famous in Chinese orchestral music. Recently chosen as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Rodolfo Barráez leads the orchestra in Butterfly Lovers and in another Chen Gang piece, Sunshine Over Tashkurgan. Chua shared that she was “honored to introduce the Butterfly Lovers to more listeners around the world even though it is already famous in Asia, and the underrated piece Sunshine Over Tashkurgan,” she said. “Both pieces are worth discovering.” The album concludes with a work by 19th-century touring violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, his Violin Concerto No. 1, in which Chua displays her virtuosity and lyricism. This fall, Chua will begin work on a bachelor’s degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin, studying violin with Kolja Blacher. — Robin Gehl

Courtney Hershey Bress, harp, with Colorado Symphony Orchestra: Harp of Ages (Naxos)
I was first introduced to the music of Michael Daugherty thanks to my former boss and mentor Cheryl Willoughby, back in the day when we worked together at Vermont Public Radio. During her morning show, she programmed a piece called “Candelabra Rhumba” from Daugherty’s Le Tombeau de Liberace. I heard it on my drive to the office and was hooked. What pure, unadulterated madness! Willoughby also used to play horn in the Colorado Symphony before our paths crossed in Vermont, so when I saw that Daugherty’s latest release features that same group, I naturally thought of her. It’s every bit as fun as I would have anticipated. Harp of Ages traces the lineage of one of the world’s oldest instruments, paying homage to music from ancient Greece to Africa to Hollywood. It’s impossible to pick any one of the work’s seven movements as a standout, but since I have to choose one to share, Irish Wedding is a great standalone work, with its brisk Celtic atmosphere and tongue-in-cheek treatment of one of Bach’s most famous melodies. But I’d definitely recommend listening to the whole album for full effect! — Joe Goetz

Pacifica Quartet: American Voices (Cedille)
One of the joys of working for seven years at Indiana University was getting to know the Jacobs School of Music’s string quartet in residence, the Pacifica Quartet. The many programs I attended in person often featured new and exciting music for string quartet paired with classics by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Dmitri Shostakovich and others. For the group’s 14th album, the players stick with that proven formula. American Voices features Dvorak’s best-known quartet, composed during a summer sojourn in Spillville, Iowa. But that’s just the beginning! From there, we move on to Florence Price’s lone quartet, some 20th-century Diversions, by Louis Gruenberg (which I had the great pleasure of watching the quartet perform live when I was back in Bloomington for the solar eclipse in April), and a new work for string quartet and voices by James Lee III. As is always the case, the quartet’s impeccable musicianship paired with Cedille’s expert engineering make this album another tremendous addition to the Pacifica Quartet’s discography. — Joe Goetz

Forgotten Sounds; Graeme Steele Johnson and others (Delos)
Award winning clarinetist and arranger Graeme Steele Johnson has issued a new chamber music recording on Delos, Forgotten Sounds, featuring his arrangements of music by Claude Debussy and French-inspired Charles Martin Loeffler. In addition to Johnson, the ensemble of talented wind and string players includes David Shifrin, Johnson’s clarinet teacher from Yale University, where Johnson earned his master’s degree. The recording features Johnson’s arrangement for octet of Debussy’s colorful Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, as well as two lovely works by Loeffler, the recently rediscovered Octet for Two Clarinets, Harp, Two Violins, Viola, Cello and Double Bass, and Forgotten Sounds (Timbres Oubliés) for clarinet and harp. While researching Loeffler for another project, Johnson became acquainted with his music. Born in 1861 in Berlin, violinist and composer Loeffler traveled throughout Europe, emigrated to the United States in 1881 and became a U.S. citizen in 1887. He served as assistant concertmaster for the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1882 until 1903. His works were performed regularly by the Boston Symphony and other American orchestras. At the time of his death in 1935, Loeffler was referred to as the Dean of American Composers, although he often referred to himself as French. Johnson discovered that the Library of Congress held an unpublished manuscript of Loeffler’s octet and spent a year reviewing its 75 pages and editing a new edition. In 2022, he assembled an ensemble to give the work its first reading in over a century. Thanks to his expert arranging talents, this first recording of the octet offers tuneful insight into Loeffler and his harmonic style influenced by Brahms, Ravel and Debussy, among others. — Robin Gehl

Jean Sibelius and Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concertos; Janine Jansen, violin; Oslo Philharmonic, conducted by Klaus Mäkelä (Decca)
Violinist Janine Jansen, known for her gorgeous recordings of Romantic-era works by Johannes Brahms, Max Bruch and Ludwig van Beethoven, hadn’t released a recording of concertos in nine years. In that time, conductor Klaus Mäkelä has emerged as one of the top interpreters of Romantic repertoire, especially the compositions of Jean Sibelius. It only makes sense that this new release of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with their powers combined would be absolutely amazing. Her performance is lush and lively, with the crisp technical ability and lyrical warmth often expected from Jansen’s playing. The fiery Oslo Philharmonic is particularly nimble in the final movement, energetically supporting Jansen’s vibrant interpretation. Their performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s magical First Violin Concerto is equally lovely and spirited. — Jennifer Allen

Decoda: Decoda (Bright Shiny Things)
The debut album from the chamber music collective Decoda didn’t mess around with a fancy album design or title, opting instead to just make the ensemble’s name and its title one and the same. Founded in 2012, the group performs everywhere from Carnegie Hall (with which it is affiliated) to maximum-security prisons. The goal of its debut album, per the group, is to “reflect the human desire to connect through revelry and celebration.” Exuberant works by Valerie Coleman and Reza Vali are featured alongside original arrangements of three rags by William Bolcom. Two of the artists featured, pianist David Kaplan and flutist Catherine Gregory, are partners in life, as well as in music (and, full disclosure, close friends of mine), making this colorful debut a true labor of love. — Joe Goetz

Every day, YourClassical’s programming team (music director Joe Goetz and associate music directors Jennifer Allen and Robin Gehl) listen to dozens of recordings as they create our daily radio playlists and on-demand streams. Here are some of their favorites for May 2024.

Jeff Beal: New York Etudes; Jeff Beal, composer and piano (Platoon Records)
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Beal was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007. Already a busy musician, he immersed himself in creative work to defy the degenerative disease. His recent album of solo piano works, New York Études, grew from practicing piano as therapy for brain strength, but in its composition, he also found mental and spiritual strength. The music is gently rhythmic and melodic, soothing but with an undercurrent of energetic emotion, a powerful reflection of Beal’s optimism and perseverance. — Jennifer Allen  

Elevate; Yuko Uébayashi, Nobu Kōda, Damien Geter; various artists (Navona)
The second installment of All Classical Portland’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative, which seeks to “change America’s playlist,” offers two works by Japanese composers and one by Black composer Damien Geter. Geter’s string quartet, Neo-Soul, lives up to its billing. The last movement, “Please Don’t Kill My Vibe,” has a relaxed groove that I indeed did not want to end. The most sparkling discovery for me, though, was the Sonata in D Minor for Violin and Piano, by Nobu Kōda. Written in 1897, it’s emblematic of the embrace of Western music that began to take place in Japan in the last part of the 19th century. Kōda spent time studying in Boston and Vienna, then returned to Japan to teach at the Tokyo Music School. The lack of respect from her male peers, however, turned out to be too much to overcome, and she ended up leaving the school to teach privately for the rest of her life. All-Classical Portland’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative isn’t the only public media effort to add underrepresented artists to classical music playlists. We’ve been doing the same thing here at YourClassical; check out our various commissions. — Joe Goetz

Four Hands; Alexandre Tharaud and various other pianists (Erato)
French pianist Alexandre Tharaud has issued more than 50 recordings over the past 30 years. He started piano studies at 5, entered the Paris Conservatoire at 14, and quickly developed an international performing and recording career, known for his diverse repertoire and critically acclaimed performances. A champion of French music as well as music of J.S. Bach, Franz Schubert, Sergei Rachmaninoff and others, he lays flowers at the tomb of composer Emmanuel Chabrier at Montparnasse Cemetery before beginning each new recording. He had the concept for his latest album, Four Hands, in mind for a long time and wanted to “put together an album for the sheer pleasure of it, in collaboration with dear friends and paying tribute to the wonders of the piano duet repertoire,” choosing each piece of music to match the character and skills of each guest pianist. The 22 tracks highlight composers such as Bach, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Philip Glass, Edvard Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Astor Piazzolla, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie, Schubert and Peter Tchaikovsky. Norwegian pianist Víkingur Ólafsson joins Tharaud for Grieg’s spritely Norwegian Dance in A Major; noted Robert Schumann interpreter Eric Le Sage performs Schumann’s Innig with Tharaud; and Chopin Competition winner Bruce Liu joins in the fun for Brahms’ well-known Hungarian Dance No. 5. — Robin Gehl

Beethoven: complete symphonies; National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda (NSO)
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a complete Beethoven symphonic cycle from a U.S. orchestra. One might have expected one to come from one of the “big” institutions such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra or Los Angeles Philharmonic. But the National Symphony Orchestra, which has as its home the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., is no slouch. Over three sets of concerts spanning 18 months in 2022 and 2023, these live recordings made along the banks of the Potomac are a worthy addition to the pantheon of Beethoven cycles. The mighty Ninth Symphony was the last to be released, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of its premiere in May 1824, and you can hear an excerpt from that below. Oh, and don’t forget to browse our list of other essential recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth. — Joe Goetz

Every day, YourClassical’s programming team (music director Joe Goetz and associate music directors Jennifer Allen and Robin Gehl) listen to dozens of recordings as they create our daily radio playlists and on-demand streams. Here are some of their favorites for April 2024.

Rodrigo: Fantasía Para un Gentilhombre & Concierto de Aranjuez; Xianji Liu and the Spanish Radio and Television Orchestra, conducted by Pedro Amaral (IBS Classical)
Two of the greatest pieces of Spanish guitar music have been interpreted and recorded by up-and-coming Chinese guitarist Xianji Liu. Spanish recording label IBS Classical was founded in 2012 primarily to showcase the musical heritage of Spain. Liu’s recording features Joaquin Rodrigo’s hallmark concertos, Fantasia for a Gentleman (composed in 1954) and the Aranjuez Concerto (composed in 1939). In 2019, Liu was invited to perform both works at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, Spain, where the gardens first inspired Rodrigo to compose the concerto. Liu became the first Chinese-born guitarist to win the Francisco Tárrega International Guitar Competition, held in Benicàssim, Spain. He was honored at the 50th competition in 2016. Trained in China, he completed graduate work at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, graduating in 2018. In addition to an international touring and recording schedule, he teaches guitar at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Along with Liu, the recording features conductor Pedro Amaral leading the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. — Robin Gehl

Timo Andres: The Blind Banister; Timo Andres, Inbal Segev and the Metropolis Ensemble, conducted by Andrew Cyr (Nonesuch)
I was first introduced to composer and pianist Timo Andres in 2013 at a small dinner he hosted at his apartment in Brooklyn. What first impressed me was his Bolognese, but then I heard him play Frederic Chopin. And Thomas Ades. And then his own music. It was clear he was destined for great things, and indeed his piano concerto The Blind Banister was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize. Now, nearly a decade after its composition and first performances, it has been recorded with the Metropolis Ensemble with Andres at the piano. The Blind Banister, while an excellent work, wasn’t actually my favorite piece on the album. His 2017 concerto for cello and chamber orchestra, Upstate Obscura, grabbed hold of my imagination from its first notes. Cellist Inbal Segev, who commissioned the work, explores via ever-expanding motifs the curious tale of artist John Vanderlyn’s quixotic attempt to paint a panoramic replica of the gardens of Versailles. The final movement, “Vanishing Point,” has an aura of the resignation of an artist whose wild dream was never fulfilled or understood. — Joe Goetz

Anastasia Kobekina: Venice (Sony)
Inbal Segev isn’t the only cellist with fascinating music to enjoy this month. Russian cellist Anatasia Kobekina has a new album, Venice, that has two feet in different worlds, yet she finds a curious way to find common ground between them. On one hand, the Renaissance and Baroque traditions of Venice are explored through arrangements of Claudio Monteverdi and Antonio Vivaldi. On the other, Kobekina explores the modern sounds of Gyorgy Kurtag, Caroline Shaw and even her father, Vladimir Kobekin. Of particular note is her inclusion of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. A native of Yekaterinburg, Russia, Kobekina has been outspoken against her native country’s invasion of Ukraine. Silvestrov’s Evening Serenade, with its echoes of Franz Schubert’s Ständchen, serves as a poignant reminder of his nation’s struggle in the face of aggression yet ends with the slightest glimmer of hope for a better future. — Joe Goetz

John Williams: Violin Concerto No. 1, Bernstein: Serenade; James Ehnes and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stéphane Denève (Pentatone)
Two concertos by American composers are the focus of the latest recording by violinist James Ehnes with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Stéphane Denève. John Williams’ First Violin Concerto was written from 1974 to ‘76, and is one of his earliest “serious” works. While touches of his characteristic compositional sound can be found throughout (a shimmering harp glissando here, an atmospheric glow of strings there), this is not simply a score padded with extra material. Williams finds the opportunity to express a huge range of emotions — energetic excitement, frantic anger, tender melancholy — through the more modern neo-classical style of the mid-’70s. Like Williams, Leonard Bernstein blurs the line between music for the screen and for the concert stage in his Serenade on Plato’s Symposium. Composed in 1954 for violinist Isaac Stern, Bernstein was inspired to write this exploration of the Greek idea of love after re-reading Plato’s works. Both composers have such unique voices that the music is unmistakably theirs — but you’ll have to close your eyes and imagine your own movie. — Jennifer Allen

Every day, YourClassical’s programming team (music director Joe Goetz and associate music directors Jennifer Allen and Robin Gehl) listen to dozens of recordings as they create our daily radio playlists and on-demand streams. Here are some of their favorites for March 2024.

Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems (Le Carnaval des Animaux and L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise); Les Siècles, conducted by François-Xavier Roth (Harmonia Mundi)

When we think of “period instruments,” we mainly think of Baroque music — Bach violin partitas with gut strings, lutes, harpsichords, that sort of thing. But the French ensemble Les Siecles and its artistic director, Francois-Xavier Roth, take that concept all the way into the 19th and even early 20th centuries. In this release, the long-lived Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) is in the spotlight. To put his life in perspective, he was born when Chopin was a young man and died nearly a full decade after the raucous premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. He witnessed radical changes in musical instrument technology and even wrote what is believed to be the first score for a film, the 1908 short The Assassination of the Duke of Guise, which is featured on this release. That the players in Les Siecles are playing older instruments is not unusual, but one instrument in particular stands out: the Pleyel double piano. Perfect for piano duets, it’s used to great effect in this recording of The Carnival of the Animals, of which you can enjoy an excerpt here. — Joe Goetz

When Night Falls …; Elīna Garanča and various artists (Deutsche Grammophon)

An album perfect for an evening of relaxing contemplation, this collection of lullabies and songs performed by mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča features familiar lullabies by Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss mixed with charming delights by Xavier Montsalvatge, Luciano Berio, Engelbert Humperdinck and composers from Elīna Garanča’s homeland of Latvia. Her comforting and relaxed vocals, joined by (at various times) orchestra, chamber ensemble, guitar and piano, ask to linger in the moment, a welcome pause after a hectic day. — Jennifer Allen

Songs of Fate; Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica, Vida Miknevičiūtė (ECM)
If night listening is for deeper thoughts, Songs of Fate, by Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his ensemble, Kremerata Baltica, is perhaps more appropriate, a solemn program of music from and for turbulent times. Works by Jewish composer Mieczysław Weinberg and Baltic composers address questions of being and identity through poignant settings of Jewish texts and wordless meditations on time and music. The final piece on the album, Jēkabs Jančevskis’s Lignum, was inspired by a book about trees; it’s a moving work on introspection and understanding found in the middle of a quiet forest, hearing the music of the unknown in the shadows. — Jennifer Allen

Bedrich Smetana: Ma Vlast; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Semyon Bychkov (Pentatone Classics)
This year, the classical music world is celebrating the bicentenary of Czech composer Bedřich Smetana’s birth, March 2, 1824. 2024 also marks a Year of Czech Music observed every 10 years since Smetana’s centenary in 1924. Record label Pentatone has issued a new album featuring the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, led by its chief conductor and music director Semyon Bychkov, performing Smetana’s great symphonic cycle Má Vlast (My Homeland). First performed in 1882, this six-movement orchestral work portrays the landscape, history and legends of Bohemia and contains the tuneful Vlatava movement, “The Moldau,” beautifully depicting the river that flows through the countryside and the capital city of Prague. Smetana included descriptive and delightful moments in other movements, as well, such as Vyšehrad, a tenth-century historic fort in Prague, and in “Z Českých Luhů a Hájů” (“From Bohemia’s Woods and Fields”). Regarded as the father of Czech music, Smetana dedicated Má Vlast to the city of Prague. — Robin Gehl

A Room of Her Own; Neave Trio (Chandos)
As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we’d be remiss not to mention the latest recording by a group known for its championing of female composers. The Neave Trio (violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov and pianist Eri Nakamura) made waves before the pandemic with its album Her Voice, which featured trios by Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke and Louise Farrenc.  Five years later, A Room of Her Own shines a light on trios by Cecile Chaminade, Ethel Smyth, Germaine Tailleferre and Lili Boulanger. Hear an excerpt below, and be sure to check out Julie Amacher’s interview with the Neave Trio on New Classical Tracks. — Joe Goetz