The Critic's Chair

Kenneth Young reviews four very contrasting recordings this week on The Critic's Chair: the much anticipated new release of Bartok violin concerti by Isabelle Faust with the Swedish Radio Symphony and… Read more Audio

Roger Wilson reviews three great operas this week on The Critic's Chair. Rising star conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra begin a recorded cycle of Mozart's seven mature… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic's Chair, Robert Johnson reviews Steven Osborne's performance of Stravinsky's music for piano and orchestra in its entirety,  Gustavo Dudamel's treatment of Mahler's Ninth with… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic’s Chair, Dianne James delves into 17^th-century English Royal funeral music, sung by Vox Luminis. Also, Danny Driver’s second volume of CPE Bach keyboard sonatas is reviewed… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic's Chair, Peter Mechen reviews a new recording of Hexameron - rarely-heard piano variations featuring six pianists. He also explores transcriptions of Wagner for two-pianos, and… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic's Chair, Robert Johnson reviews the BBC Symphony Orchestra's latest in their Polish series with the works of Szymanowski, and the French Radio Philharmonic showcase the works… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic's Chair, Erica Challis reviews just two discs, both of them Requiems: Berlioz' Grande Messe des Morts recorded by Sir Colin Davis with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus… Read more Audio

Cynthia Morahan formerly of RTÉ's Lyric FM drops in this week for The Critic's Chair, and reviews discs that revitalise traditions from the old and new worlds. Soprano Petricia Petibon's Nouveau Monde… Read more Audio

The Russians are coming on The Critic's Chair this week. Robert Johnson reviews an advance copy of violinist Natalia Lomeiko's disc of Prokofiev Sonatas on the New Zealand-based Atoll label. Also, a… Read more Audio

Kenneth Young sits in for The Critic's Chair with a collection of sweeping orchestral works, from Rachmaninov's Symphony No 2 to Debussy's La Mer. Vasily Petrenko leads the Royal Liverpool Phil in the… Read more Audio

This week in The Critic's Chair, Dianne James reviews Joshua Bell's first instalment of Beethoven Symphonies with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. You'll also hear a beautiful new recording of… Read more Audio

This week on The Critic's Chair, Robert Johnson reviews famous orchestral interludes by Richard Wagner played the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer, and the latest release of… Read more Audio