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As we say goodbye to 2018, we took a look at our stats and checked which were the most read classical music reviews in the past year.
What we’ve found shows just how diverse and curious the readers of The Classic Review are – There is a representation of many genres and composers, traditional and new approaches, period and modern instruments, older and younger generations of musicians.
We can’t wait to publish some new reviews, news and classical music guides in the upcoming year, and would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our readers, who also share our love to classical music on our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn channels.
So here it is – Our most read classical music reviews in 2018.
10. Emelyanychev Conducts Beethoven And Brahms
Maxim Emelyanychev, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s new chief, gives a special account of the Eroica indeed, with what we found to be a fresh version that combines many approaches and practices performing Beethoven. Hearing Brahms played by a chamber ensemble is not so rare these days, but we found this version of the “Haydn Variations” to be a little less convincing.
9. The Chiaroscuro Quartet Performs Schubert
After two successful Haydn recordings (op. 20) for the BIS label, the period instrument ensemble “Chiaroscuro Quartet” return to Schubert with a refreshing and dramatic performance of this much-recorded work. Our review summed it up: “… this is a new, different version of “Death and the Maiden”, which you will want to return to many times…”.
8. Philip Glass – Symphony No. 11
Philip Glass’ most recent Symphony is a dynamic and fascinating work, among the composer’s more creatively constructed and orchestrated efforts. It is given a dedicated and well-recorded performance by the long-time collaborator of Glass’, who already released a set of the complete Symphonies by the American composer.
7. Brahms – The Symphonies – Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim gave a wonderfully coherent and cleared-eyed version of the complete Brahms symphonies, his second complete cycle after his Chicago journey in the 1990s. This newcomer, we’ve found on our review, is a cycle to be treasured along with the no-less-successful Andris Nelsons’ full cycle from Boston. We also thought that if not replacing the great full Brahms cycles from the past, it will undoubtedly give tremendous enjoyment to listeners. The recording, from the new Pierre Boulez hall in Berlin, is totally life-like, transparent yet blending all the orchestra’s sections.
6. Thibaut Garcia – “Bach Inspirations”
This one, simply put, just blew our minds when we first heard Thibaut Garcia’s luscious tone from the outset of his Bach-inspired collection. This fascinating album includes, besides Bach, music 5 other composers, all masterfully played and recorded. Or as we’ve put it in the review: “A truly wonderful album”.
5. “BAÏKA” – Nemanja Radulovic
Nemanja Radulovic’s latest album, like his previous endeavors, examines a musical theme, this time revolving around Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian. His interpretation is energetic and inspiring as always, and the Violin Concerto, as we’ve written, is a “…highly welcome release if one has to go back to the ’50s and ’60s to find as dedicated and exciting performance as this”. The album also includes an interesting arrangement to Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Khachaturian’s youthful Clarinet Trio in a vibrant performance.
4. Mahler – Symphony No. 5 – Harding
Although there were a number of Mahler’s 5th in recent years, this new release stands out from the crowd by being, as the review suggests “a different kind of Mahler”, as the review stipulates. It’s the second album of what will become a Mahler cycle from these forces for Harmonia Mundi.
3. Bach – Brandenburg Concertos – Zefiro
Continuing their highly impressive release of 3 of Bach’s Orchestral Suites, the Zefiro ensemble completes the Suites cycle with the Second Suite for flute and orchestra, and gives a memorable account of the complete Brandenburg Concertos. Or how we summed up the review: “…This is a highly animated, energetic and engaging Brandenburg Concertos release, one of the best in recent memory, and which can stand alongside the best versions out there”.
2. Seong-Jin Cho Plays Mozart
Winner of the 2015 Chopin Competition, Seong-Jin Cho (조성진) turns his attention to Mozart, giving a persuasive account of the dark D Minor Piano Concerto and two Solo Sonatas. In the concerto, Cho is expertly accompanied, as always, by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, on good form and well recorded. The review found the Piano Sonatas, especially K.281, are nice filler to an album by a remarkable young talent.
1. Daniil Trifonov Plays Rachmaninov
No big surprise here, as this is one of the most heavily marketed classical music releases of the year. Happily, it deserves the hype, with a fresh and vibrant performance of two of Rachmaninov’s lovely Piano Concertos. Our review found that this album contains a great performance of the second Piano Concerto, but the performance of the Fourth is no less impressive, and simply needs to be heard. This was our most read review this year, and it’s the first of what will become a full Rachmaninov Piano Concerto cycle in the upcoming year. As a bonus, we included the expensive production by Deutsche Grammophon that accompanied this release.
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