Classical music has had more than just a few wins this year, from being featured on the big screen with a recent Netflix biopic to having one of the most historic and monumental live performances ever. That said, plenty more moments in classical music went fairly under the radar.
Thus, we have made a list of 7 of the best albums in the art form within 2023, featuring both new and old masters of the craft. Come explore what the best of this year could offer right below.
Tobias Volkmann, conductor of the Rio de Janeiro Theatro Municipal symphony orchestra, conducts during the last rehearsal of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 14, 2017.
'Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 24' by Robert Levin
Kicking off the list is a collaboration album between American pianist Robert Levin and British period-instrument orchestra the Academy of Ancient Music. The project is the successor to their previous two-decade-old album together, "Mozart & Beethoven: Quintets for Piano & Wind Instruments," and has a production history just as old.
This current one is a masterful interpretation of Mozart's infamous keyboard parts, known to be tricky due to the Classical Era master's tendency to improvise, which is in huge part thanks to Levin's piano mastery and scholarly knowledge. Additionally, it also features performances of arguably two of the greatest concertos made, as conducted by Richard Egarr.
'Puccini: Turandot' by Antonio Pappano
Nowadays, studio recordings of operas are scarcely made, but Antonio Pappano has pushed out another Puccini masterpiece which has soaked over 30 years of the conductor's expertise. The "Puccini: Turandot" album was recorded in conjunction with the Rome-based Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Soaring under the immensely detailed orchestration of Pappano, giving justice to Puccini himself, is the star-studded cast comprised of Sondra Radvanovsky, Ermonela Jaho, and Jonas Kaufmann.
'Byrd: The Golden Renaissance' by Stile Antico
2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the Shakespearean composer William Byrd and Stile Antico exemplifies this quadricentennial celebration with his album "The Golden Renaissance: William Byrd."
Antico iterates Byrd's Catholic masterpiece, "Mass for Four Voices," unabashedly composed during the Protestant era of Queen Elizabeth I, and combines it with other Byrd works in a set of vivid but poised performances.
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'Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (Complete Ballet)' by John Wilson and Sinfonia of London
In a standard-setting recording, the Sinfonia of London Orchestra, helmed by British conductor John Wilson, brings about a precise iteration, mistakes and all, of one of Maurice Ravel's most beloved orchestral pieces.
For Wilson, the main charm of this edition is that it does not branch out from Ravel's performance of the ballet, but endeavors to reenact as best as he could the detailed irregularities that were birthed from numerous changes that Ravel made across rehearsals of the piece.
'Adès: Dante' by Gustavo Dudamel and Los Angeles Philharmonic
Originally a full-length ballet production that had its inaugural run at The Royal Opera House in London last 2021, "The Dante Project" has an incredible composition by Thomas Adès and a transformative choreography designed by Wayne McGregor.
Then, from Adès' score, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra collaborated to produce a faithful iteration of the ballet that was originally a Tchaikovsky ballet masterpiece in their album dubbed "Thomas Adès: Dante."
'J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations' by Víkingur Ólafsson
In a 25-year-long production, Víkingur Ólafsson undertook the gargantuan task of iterating one of the most beautiful arias in Bach's oeuvre, his "Goldberg Variations."
Although it took a long while, the project has bloomed into a collection of bold performances highlighted by Ólafsson's almost dichotomous playing, a contrast of rapid piano melodies with a lossless articulation filled to the brim with clarity and meaning.
'Rodgers and Hammerstein: Oklahoma!' John Wilson and Sinfonia of London
Gracing this list with another entry is John Wilson with his Sinfonia of London Orchestra, undertaking a recording of the soundtrack belonging to the 1943 Broadway classic "Oklahoma!"
Once again, Wilson demonstrates his peerless ability to stay incredibly faithful to the source material, with this album doing justice to Rodgers and Hammerstein's original composition. To do this, the composer and the ensemble utilized the same original orchestration performed in the inaugural run of the play, with the same instruments used at the time.
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