Your Favourite Purchases of 2011

[jlaurson]

Best (Classical) Recordings of 2011 Lists:

[Brian]

MusicWeb International Recordings of the Year

MusicWeb International CD of the Year



"The most significant event of the musical calendar, in the UK at least, surely had to be Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony at the Proms on July 17. Hyperion's recording of the performance was only officially released this week, but Musicweb was fortunate to have an advance copy for review."

Classical Editor Rob Barnett's CD of the Year



"Not so much a nomination for this volume, but rather the whole collection."

Only three 2011 CDs were shortlisted by multiple MusicWeb reviewers:
•  Hyperion's recording of Frank Martin's opera Der Sturm
•  Nelson Friere's Liszt recital on Decca
•  the complete viol consort music of William Byrd on Linn

As always, the tastes of MusicWeb's reviewers are so diverse and exploratory that a full browse through the list will turn up many, many diverse goodies.

----

My own shortlist for that website, arranged alphabetically (no 1-5 rankings):



Works by Kilar, Malecki, Czarnecki
"Anybody who thinks that "appealing/melodic" and "expertly crafted" are now mutually exclusive should hear Czarnecki's tiny String Quartet No 2."

 

 

(the Pavel Haas disc was Gramophone magazine's record of the year)

[Sergeant Rock]

2011, the Year of Havergal Brian and Hans Gál










P.S. for Brian: A technicality prevented me from including the Pavel Haas Dvorak: it was released in Germany in 2010.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Best of 2011, Part 9

Nice to see my homeboys (and girl) make the cut.

Sarge

[Todd]

Since I'm done buying for the year, I know what my favorites are.  Some are new for 2011, some are not, but all were new for me in 2011.


The Top Tier:
Buxtehude – Organ Works; Rene Saorgin (Harmonia Mundi)
Debussy – Nocturnes, et al; Salonen (Sony)
Morales / Guerrero / Victoria – Sacred Works; Savall, et al (Alia Vox)
Giulini in America Chicago (DG)
Rafael Kubelik Conducts Great Symphonies (Sony)
Schubert – Piano Works; Andras Schiff (Decca)
Beethoven – Late Sonatas; Penelope Crawford (Musica Omnia)


Other goodies:
Complete Recordings of Samson Francois (EMI)
Pierre Fournier The Aristocrat of Cellists (EMI)
Brahms – Symphonies, etc; Levine (RCA)
Bach – Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites; Suzuki (BIS)
Beethoven – String Quartets; Budapest [stereo]; CBS/Sony
Mahler – Symphonies; Tennstedt (EMI)
Balada – Caprichos (Naxos)
Haydn – Piano Sonatas Vol 2; Bavouzet (Chandos)
Liszt – Piano Works; Freire (Decca)
Schumann, etc – Piano Works; Schuch (Oehms)
Vaughn Williams – Symphonies; Slatkin (Sony)

[Mandryka]

Just limiting myself to stuff released for the first time this year as far as I know:

Ebene's Mozart Quartets CD (SP)
Lubimov's late Beethoven sonatas (SP)
DG's Liszt Legacy box (SP)
Rostropvich Barshai and Kagan in Beethoven trios
The live Weissenberg CD on Haensler (SP)
Giulini in America (SP)
Hunt Lieberson's Berlioz (Nuits d'ete) (SP)
Tzimon Barto's Schubert CD on BIS (SP)
Sigurd Slattebrekk Grieg CD (Chasing Butterflies) (SP)
L'Arpeggiata's Monteverdi Vespers (SP)
Jeffrey Solow, Jaime Laredo and  Ruth Laredo's Ravel


SP= discoverable through spotify in UK.

[jlaurson]

Just limiting myself to stuff released for the first time this year as far as I know:

Tzimon Barto's Schubert CD on BIS (SP)

On Capriccio, presumably.

[Mandryka]

On Capriccio, presumably.

Indeed. Thanks

[Lethevich]

Some special ones that my terrible memory can actually recall being from this year



The EM Records disc of violin sonatas is just wonderful. The sound isn't ideal, I think it was recorded in a live-style environment, but the playing is committed. The Bowen sonata is amazing, the Walford Davies is quite a curio and a valuable addition to our understanding of this niche of this already little corner of musical composition. The Dutton Havergal Brian disc is every bit as good as performances of the composer's music needs to be to convince people that he knows what he is doing. It doesn't reduce the music's challenges to the listener, though. The Rheinberger box is remarkable, it's a compilation of recordings gradually made during the 90s and 00s and the sound remains very good throughout. The music is generally exceptional, and there isn't really much filler either - pretty much every piece included is worth knowing.

The Dennehy is in some part crossover, but the Yeats songs are some of the most sensitive settings of his words that I have heard. Upshaw sounds ridiculously good as usual. Anybody recording Sorabji deserves praise, and this piece while as usual I have yet to come to grips with it (it took years for me to memorise the structure of Opus Clav), it's as well done as the previous editions of the series. The Rochberg is nice to hear in toto, and very well performed and recorded - a very impressive work. The D'Indy, Halvorsen and Ibragimova/Beethoven series are just affirmations of how fine these recordings as a whole have been - each new volume made me happy to hear.

[Mandryka]

Forgot the new Moravec Mozart CD (SP)

[The new erato]

Re Bartok 2: Quote "The liner notes call the Second Concerto "arguably [the] most important violin concerto of the 20th century". That's a little ambitious, given Berg, Sibelius, and Prokofiev in the wings,"

What happened to the mighty Shostakovich 1 which in my humble opinion is the Bartok 2nd's main contender?

[mc ukrneal]

Gosh, you all buy up new stuff right away. It takes me a long time to buy new releases for the most part. I have just two 2011 releases. And I don't have a big number of 2010 releases either. Though threads such as this are helpful for highlighting some discs I want, so much appreciated!

[jlaurson]

Re Bartok 2: Quote "The liner notes call the Second Concerto "arguably [the] most important violin concerto of the 20th century". That's a little ambitious, given Berg, Sibelius, and Prokofiev in the wings,"

What happened to the mighty Shostakovich 1 which in my humble opinion is the Bartok 2nd's main contender?

Funny you mention that, because I had DSCH in that "given X, Y, Z" list...  and then took him out because I thought three were more concise and DSCH in any case not quite as much up there as Berg, Sibelius, and Prokofiev... Who knows...

[kishnevi]

Funny you mention that, because I had DSCH in that "given X, Y, Z" list...  and then took him out because I thought three were more concise and DSCH in any case not quite as much up there as Berg, Sibelius, and Prokofiev... Who knows...

Hmm, some of us would think of Bartok, Sibelius, Berg and Prokofiev as also rans when compared to DSCH.

BTW, apropos of today's entry:
[asin]B000OQDRVO[/asin]

Although, from what I remember of it (it's been more than a little while since I popped it into my CD player), it wasn't terribly impressive.

(For the curious--that picture on the CD shows Corigliano's father and uncle well before the former joined the NYPhil.

[mc ukrneal]

Not my list, but the 100 best sellers from MDT in 2011. Perhaps of interest...http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/category/Choice_Top2011/

[Lethevich]

Not my list, but the 100 best sellers from MDT in 2011. Perhaps of interest...http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/category/Choice_Top2011/

I forgot about the Perahia/Brahms - that disc sounds really, really impressive just from a recording quality POV. I don't know how I forgot the Liszt box -_-

[kishnevi]

Not my list, but the 100 best sellers from MDT in 2011. Perhaps of interest...http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/category/Choice_Top2011/

Well, I have twenty of them, plus another two are on order.  This means I could have actually overspent more this year than I actually did.  So I guess that's a good thing.

(BTW, I think there's considerably less than a hundred items on that list.)

[PaulSC]

(BTW, I think there's considerably less than a hundred items on that list.)

The phrase "add to wish list" seems to be associated exactly once with each item, and it occurs 99 times in the list. So, less, but not considerably less.

[jlaurson]

Best (Classical) Recordings of 2011:

(under construction; add to the appropriate thread if there is one)

Alex Ross: Apex 2011

Time Out: The best classical albums of 2011

ionarts:	Best of 2011, Part 10
	Best of 2011, Part 9
	Best of 2011, Part 8
	Best of 2011, Part 7
	Best of 2011, Part 6
	Best of 2011, Part 5
	Best of 2011, Part 4
	Best of 2011, Part 3
	Best of 2011, Part 2
	Best of 2011, Part 1

[not edward]

I've not bought as many discs as I might like this year, but a few have stood out for me.

New recordings:

[asin]B004TWOWX6[/asin]
Probably my disc of the year. Great performances of both concerti, and the 2nd comes off as much much more than an expanded orchestral version of the sonata.

[asin]B002L5IKHW[/asin]
This long-awaited disc proved everything I was expecting. Zimerman's all-star Polish ensemble proved more than equal to both the traditional and the radical Bacewicz.

[asin]B004UBB3N8[/asin]
An unexpected "like" for me: a very useful Penderecki collection capped by the first recording of his retrospective yet meaty Third Quartet.

[asin]B004UE102O[/asin]
Mostly for Rihm's delightful Lichtes Spiel, a lovely near-idyll perfectly suited to Mutter's playing.

[asin]B005FMQBDI[/asin]
Arne Deforce not only proves more than equal to the bruising physical demands of Nomos alpha and Kottos, but also proves able to extract the most from Xenakis' problematical late works. Outstanding stuff.

[asin]B004Z34N74[/asin]
Michele Campanella's brand new late Liszt anthology proved to be a complete no-brainer recommendation.


A few reissues also spring to mind:

[asin]B004TNZVEY[/asin]
Reissue of the year for me, particularly for Giulini's remarkable way with Schubert.

[asin]B004H6P2LA[/asin]
Leinsdorf's underrated Prokofiev--including the superb concerto set with Browning--now at superbudget price. Pity about the remasterings, though.

[asin]B004RRW4GA[/asin]
Reinbert de Leeuw's new music series on Philips had so much to recommend it (fantastic Ustvolskaya and Vivier recordings, for example), and this coupling of two of Gorecki's later works is every bit as worthwhile. Hopefully Newton Classics plans to reissue the lot.


Now I just need to pick up Mode's orchestral Feldman and Scelsi viola discs, Volkov's Liszt disc on Hyperion, the Capucons et al in Faure and Nono's late Risonanse erranti, and see if any of them can make the list at the last minute.