# Best Releases of 2014 (so far)



## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

In the "Recorded Music and Publications" section of the forum, there's a great thread called New Releases (begun and helpfully moderated by Itullian) in which people share what they discover that is coming out. I would like this thread to be a little different: Now that you've bought new releases: what do you think of them? What have been, for you, the best releases of 2014?

For the moment, I'll just list mine. I'll post comments on some later:

1. Paul Lewis - _Schubert: The Late Piano Sonatas_ (2 CDs) (Harmonia mundi)
2. Ronald Brautigam / Die Kölner Akademie - _Mozart: Piano Concertos #18 & 22 _(BIS)
3. James Ehnes, _Bartok: Chamber Works for Violin_ (Chandos)
4. David Robertson / Timothy McAllister / St. Louis Symphony - 
_Adams: City Noir / Saxophone Concerto_ (Nonesuch)
5. Takács Quartet / Lawrence Power, _Brahms: String Quintets_ (Hyperion)
6. Dante Quartet - _Kodály: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2_ (Hyperion)
7. Cédric Tiberghien - _Szymanowski: Masques, Métopes, Études_ (Hyperion)
8. Denis Matsuev / Valery Gergiev / Mariinsky - _Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos #1 & #2_ (Hyperion)


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## Guest (Sep 9, 2014)

Unsuk Chin - 3 Concertos

.


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## julianoq (Jan 29, 2013)

Aimard's record of the WTC book one is very good!


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

...don't know about the best but I've been enjoying this lately. Particularly, the title piece.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I don't now what the "best releases" would be for 2014. I look at new releases on a monthly basis. If I see something I need, i buy it. Then it often goes on my Top 10 or so best purchases for that particular year. But that's a compilation of new and old releases. 

Most of my acquisiitons for several years or more have been old releases, because my collection is full for the most part.

For 2014, I have not thus far made a new release purchase. That's a rarity. For 2013, I had three--Lutoslawski & Penderecki SQs, w. Royal Qt.(Hyperion), Corelli Op. 5, w. Avison Ens. (Linn), and Moeran Cello Concerto, etc., w. Johnston/Falletta (Naxos).:tiphat:


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Unsuk Chin - 3 Concertos.





julianoq said:


> Aimard's record of the WTC book one is very good!





Couac Addict said:


> ...don't know about the best but I've been enjoying this lately. Particularly, the title piece.


arcane and julian and couac, Thanks. When you get a chance, could you write a review for those purchases, even a few lines? I will try to do the same with those that I've listed.

I guess that I'm a little surprised that more have not jumped in. Have people not purchased any new releases? I figured that 8 months into the year people would, by this point, have purchased a decent number.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I've bought trunks full, but have not evaluated them enough to give any a definitive thumbs up, sorry... 

/ptr


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2014)

Also, Norgard 1 & 8 with Oramo.

And the Dutilleux Edition on DG.

I can try to write a review later, but I'm not highlighting new performances so much as new works (in Dutilleux's case, simply a chance to get a bunch of works, some of them rather obscure, in one place).


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## Corvus (Aug 9, 2012)

My favorite 2014 release is the Akademie Fur Alte Musik Berlin recording of C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat. I must have listened to this a hundred times by now. The excitement and energy of this recording will grab you and lift your spirits within the first 30 seconds of playing!


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Comments on my list:

Dante Quartet, _Kodaly: String Quartets nos. 1 & 2_ (Hyperion, 2014)










Kodaly and Bartok were, of course, close friends and worked together in pioneering ethnomusicology. Those folk researches are on display here, though Kodaly's quartets are much less rambunctious than the later ones by Bartok. The dates actually match those of Bartok's #1 and #2, and here stylistically there is a similarity. This was my first time to hear Kodaly's pair. I'm especially impressed by the 2nd. The Dante Quartet gives a superb reading of these (and it's typical high-quality recording from Hyperion).

Review from _BBC Music Magazine_ (March, 2014):[/QUOTE]


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Another:

Cedric Tiberghien, _Szymanowski: Masques, Metopes, Etudes_ (Hyperion, 2014)










Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) is a fascinating (and rather tragic) figure. I was first won over to his music by his two dazzling string quartets. Then I was mesmerized by Edward Gardner's and the BBC Symphony's recent performance of Szymanowski's Symphony #4 (which is really more of a piano concerto -- played brilliantly by Louis Lortie). His piano music is quite varied in style -- and mirrors the stylistic shifts of his career -- from Scriabin-esque late romantic to Debussy-ian "impressionist" to Prokofievian modernist.

From a recent review:



> "The music of Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) remains something of a hothouse flower, emanating a distinctly unique bouquet comprised of Chopin, Scriabin, Debussy, Reger, and various Eastern influences. Pianist Cedric Tiberghien (rec. 10-12 March 2013) explores the seminal piano works of Szymanowski, alternately poetic, introspective, and texturally dense, often permeated with bravura effects. Szymanowski's wide-ranging interests embrace literature and mythology, Polish nationalism, and classical architecture. Each of these impulses finds a degree of expression and occasional collision in Szymanowski's rarified harmony and idiosyncratic sense of form."--Gary Lemco (Audiophile Audition). Rating: **** (of possible 5).


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Ahem, I presume by "best" you mean "favourite"? 

Anyways, so far the 4 I think of when I think of "favourite release of 2014" are (in no particular order):

Anna Prohaska: "Behind the Lines"







Songs of war in a well-constructed program... Beethoven, Mahler, Ives, Weill and many more...

Dublin Guitar Quartet Performers Philip Glass







Glass's string quartets, enhanced (I think) in these guitar arrangements by the performers

John Allemeier: "Deep Water: The Murder Ballads"







Three new ballets, each based on a different tale of murder from North Carolina. Immediately evocative. If I were capable of composing music I think this is the sort of thing I'd write.

Julia Wolfe: "Steel Hammer"






. 
Wolfe deconstructs the classic folk song "John Henry" and then reconstructs it into a glorious epic for the singers of Trio Medieval and the Bang On A Can All-Stars


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Nereffid said:


> Ahem, I presume by "best" you mean "favourite"?


Nereffid, Thanks for these. As I put in the opening post, "... *for you* the best ..."

****
I had said that I would post a bit on each of the new ones I've picked and recommend. I've posted something on two thus far. Here's on another:

Denis Matsuev / Valery Gergiev / Mariinsky Orchestra
_Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto #1 & #2_ (Mariinsky, 2014)[/B]










_Gramophone_ (April issue) chose this as their "Disc of the Month". Excerpts from the review:



> he B flat minor Concerto has been recorded so many times that you may justifiably ask if we really need another.... There have been many very great accounts of it - Horowitz / Szell, Argerich / Abbado, Gilels / Mehta among them - but I doubt if you will ever hear it more viscerally thrilling and sumptuously engineered than here ... Gergiev, sometimes routine in concerto recordings, is here fiercely energised - giving as good as he gets, as it were, from his soloist - to the point after the orchestral tutti at 10'55" that you wonder how Matsuev is going to match him. But of course he does, and to hair-raising effect.
> ... there is a sense of occasion and a burning purpose here that is missing from so many recordings of this work and which merely adds to the excitement of a conception that builds so inexorably to the work's peroration that I guarantee, no matter how familiar you are with the concerto, it will make your eyes burn. If this isn't the greatest performance on disc, it is certainly now my personal benchmark ... Matsuev and Gergiev give a similarly blistering account of the G major Concerto.


I've been on the lookout for a new performance for a while, one that combined a great performance and great recording quality. I do have a great version of the Tchaikovsky PC #1 with Martha Argerich from the 1970s. This new one, as the review highlights, is unique in having a great performance of the First _and the Second_. It also has great sound. It doesn't open with quite the bang (in the horns) that the Argerich / Abbado does but its power emerges more slowly. The lyricism of the 2nd movement is greater, and the climax of the 3rd movement is remarkable.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I've bought a few CDs this year, but are actually from last year. Perhaps some were released early this year. And it might take a while for my local CD shop to get new releases here at the end of the world. 
The only CD that actually says 2014 in my collection is 
Resphighi Impresioni Brasiliane and La Boutique Fantasque
View attachment 50908


I was quite pleased to see this coupling of pieces, as I own neither. This disk sounds great. But not knowing these pieces I can't make a detailed critique. I had a vague memory of La Boutique Fantasque as mother had an old LP with this piece, a memory I have from the 70s.


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## mitchflorida (Apr 24, 2012)

Has anyone heard of Ingolf Wunder? He replaces Arthur Rubinstein altogether.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

mitchflorida said:


> Has anyone heard of Ingolf Wunder? He replaces Arthur Rubinstein altogether.


Yes, a youthful Austrian pianist; And Your second statement show firm delusion and a grand scale lack of knowledge!

/ptr


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

mitchflorida said:


> Has anyone heard of Ingolf Wunder? He replaces Arthur Rubinstein altogether.


Mitch, No, I haven't. Has he released something in 2014? If so, what? Your claim is a bold one. Could you please explain why you believe that Wunder is such a wunderkind?


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## mitchflorida (Apr 24, 2012)

Go to Spotify and listen. Also take into account the high sound quality versus that of 50 years ago.

Enough said.


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## Guest (Sep 14, 2014)

This is my favorite new release of 2014 in my collection:









French Baroque Diva: Arias for Marie Fel - Carolyn Sampson, sop./ Ex Cathedra/ Jeffrey Skidmore - Hyperion

Me likes it.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2014)

Ok, I'm adding another favorite new release:










Some interesting arrangements of various Schubert pieces with a harp replacing the piano. Anna Prohaska is amazing here, but in fact all the performances are flawless.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Robert Bates Jehan Titelouze

Harnoncourt instrumental oratorio and Haffner.

Birtwistle Moth Requiem

Haugsand Rameau solo

Currentzis Figaro

Leon Berben Clavier Übung 3

Virginia Black Bach Partitas

Grigory Sokolov Hammerklavier (video on Medici TV)

Francesco Cera D'Anglebert solo

George Flynn Remembering

Staier, Pour passer la melancholie


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Quite a lovely album.
Aaron Copland Violin Sonata
Charles Ives Largo for violin, clarinet, and piano
Leonard Bernstein Piano Trio
Elliot Carter Elegy for viola and piano
Samuel Barber String Quartet in Bm (yes, that String quartet with the famous slow movement)
View attachment 52865

View attachment 52866


(and that made up Highway Sign of Interstate Five is just over the border)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> Quite a lovely album.
> Aaron Copland Violin Sonata
> Charles Ives Largo for violin, clarinet, and piano
> Leonard Bernstein Piano Trio
> ...


I want this one!!!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Daniel Haefliger and Gilles Vonsattel, Holliger Romancendres etc.

This year has been absolutely oustanding for new performances.


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

I wanted to add to this thread but I have only acquired 2 recordings from 2014:

Adams, John [1947] 
The Gospel According to the Other Mary [Gustavo Dudamel, Los Angeles Master Chorale/Philharmonic]









This I have not absorbed yet.

&

Marc-André Hamelin recording of 
Janáček, Leoš [1854-1928] - On the overgrown path, Book I
&
Schumann, Robert [1810-1865] - Waldszenen; Kinderszenen









Which is, as expected, fantastic. I'm going to see Hamelin perform in January, which is exciting.

*I do think I'm going to purchase that Schubert album with harp transcriptions as well as Jonas Kaufmann's Winterreise.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

21-disk complete recordings of Charles Rosen. I'd been expecting something like this since Rosen's recent passing. Many of the great disks in this album have been very hard to track down in recent years, so I'm grateful for this opportunity--as long as they're as good as I remember :lol:

Available in the USA Dec. 2nd.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Albu...=1414924740&sr=8-1&keywords=charles+rosen+box


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Pierre Hantai, 2 English Suites, Italian Concerto, and some odd Preludes. 

So far I've only had the chance to listen carefully to the Italian Concerto - which shows how good Hantai isat making the harpsichord do unusual sounds - and how he has a real good feel for when to speed up/ slow down. It's a special performance.

Is anyone going to say that Lang Lang and Harnoncourt's new Mozart CD is one of the best of 2014?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Deszo Ranki, Chopin Preludes.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

If I have to choose one, I'd say this one










CPE Bach - Magnificat, Heilig ist Gott for double choir, Sinfonie D-Dur.

A replica of a historical concert that took place in Hamburg in 1786 (April 9th), CPE Bach conducting.

An outstanding recording, possibly the best celebration of his 300th anniversary.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Great performances by Peter Miyamoto of the Brahms Handel Variations and Fugue, Waltzes and piano pieces opus 119.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

^^^He is supposed to have a fabulous new Schubert album out too!


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Paavali Jumppanen, Beethoven Sonatas


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Sv Richter, Anatoli Kamyshev, Brahms Op 120/1 (first ever public release)
Tatrai Quartet, Beethoven op 18/3 (first ever release off LP)


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Was wondering if anyone had purchased the recent release by Alice Sara Ott with Francesco Tristano of the 2-piano version of _The Rite_ et al.? If so, would appreciate any thoughts.

I like Ott and follow what she does, so this one's interested me for a while. Indeed, the needlessly raunchy, so obviously trying to be 'scandalous' without any effect, album pics are a disaster, that goes without saying!


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2014)

For the record, I think there should be a separate, ongoing thread specifically for new releases of works never-before-recorded (Call it new recordings of new works for simplicity's sake). As great as some performers are, it's always a little disappointing to see that so many posts are devoted entirely to a new Mahler cycle, a Callas remaster, etc.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Apparently it even includes an incredibly rare recording of Beethoven's Symphony no. 5! (Which would have probably been better kept unreleased on cd, according to a review I read earlier today)


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## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Maurice RAVEL: Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
:: Dominique Labelle, soprano & Yehudi Wyner, piano
[Bridge, from the album _Moments of Love_]

This is Ravel's not too frequently heard/recorded arrangement for voice & piano. I can't say that I favor the piano over the more usual instrumental ensemble, but Wyner makes as good a case for the piano as could be made for it. Indeed, I'm amazed at how well and how evocatively Wyner plays here, conjuring up an enchanting atmosphere right from the git-go with the shimmering opening of "Soupir"-and his rapport with Labelle is of the "of one mind" variety that can only be explained by a Vulcan mind meld or telepathy of another sort. Tempos are a bit faster than usual in the outer songs and quite a bit faster in "Placet futile," but they never sound too fast or call attention to themselves in context, always sounding comfortably within the music's temporal sweet spot.

Labelle is mostly associated with Baroque music, but she's entirely at home here in the early 20th Century. She produces a well-rounded, polished tone having a silvery, infinite-shades-of-gray quality about it that might be lustrous but for the slightest hint of duskiness of the Lorraine Hunt Lieberson kind. Her lower range is warm and stable but not heavy or boomy/chesty, while her upper range is smoothly extended and vibrant in a way that's not glassy or edgy-very easy on the ear, to say the least.

She sings with great poise and control and produces an ideally regulated vibrato that never distracts. Her phrasing is beautiful and sensitive but not sentimental or indulgent, striking a fine balance between sounding youthful (but not girlish or naïve à la Dawn Upshaw), slyly sensuous/sensual, and coolly distant (but not detached). I might have preferred a slightly less cool, more sultry approach overall, but it's a wee complaint if it's a complaint at all. Her French, diction, and intonation are excellent (so far as I can judge them, which ain't far)-all necessary qualities to put across Mallarmé's highly sound-/pronunciation-based, ambiguity-riddled texts within Ravel's refined and sophisticated harmonic scheme of things.

Labelle sings mellifluously yet articulately and with a nice sense of time/rhythm/pulse, but dynamics (both dynamic range and dynamic contrasts) are somewhat subdued, perhaps in response to the piano-only accompaniment(?). This lends the performance an uncommonly intimate and personal feel and allows subtle points and inflections to register more tellingly-whether that makes up for the subdued dynamics (if one considers subdued dynamics a shortcoming in the first place) depends, of course, on one's priorities and preferences.

All else being equal, I'd prefer a somewhat more dynamic account of these songs employing the inherently more varied and colorful chamber ensemble. But all else isn't equal, and I find myself favoring this recording to any of the dozen or so versions with chamber ensemble that I know. The approach may not be quite what I'm looking for, but the execution, the realization, is so beguiling that I'm won over anyhow.





 (album)





 (I. "Soupir")




 (II. "Placet futile")




 (III. "Surgi de la croupe et du bond")


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

How about the Dvorak 8th as done by Manfred Honek and the Pittsburgh Symphony?









I was in Pittsburgh for the Symphony concert (Beethoven Fest -- the 5th and 7th symphonies performed) on Saturday December 6, and it was announced prior to the start of the concert that Honek and the PSO have been nominated for a Grammy for this recording.

I'm not so certain that nomination for a Grammy means much -- (Wasn't Justin Bieber nominated, too?) -- but I have this recording on the SACD disc, and it is astounding. I've heard many Dvorak Eighths over the years. This one stands out. It brings to focus so many details that I had never much noticed before, and it hangs together as a consistently rich and vibrant texture, not to mention form. A revelation, truly.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

For opera recital discs, count Joyce DiDonato's Stella di Napoli. The closest to Opera Rara without of course getting Opera Rara LOL.

I heard a selection from it and plan to hear the rest when the dude returns it back to the public library.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Michael Finnissy "Can't Remember How It Starts"


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Loraine Hunt Lieberson, Bach BWV 170


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Skilmarilion said:


> Was wondering if anyone had purchased the recent release by Alice Sara Ott with Francesco Tristano of the 2-piano version of _The Rite_ et al.? If so, would appreciate any thoughts.
> 
> I like Ott and follow what she does, so this one's interested me for a while. Indeed, the needlessly raunchy, so obviously trying to be 'scandalous' without any effect, album pics are a disaster, that goes without saying!


Another thematic offering by DG. "Rite" for two pianos is something I don't need. Two highly talented artists via Europe. Munich for ASO (Salzburg Mozarteum grad), and Luxembourg for FT (Juilliard grad), or the former FTS. He's apparently dropped the Schlime portion of his name, as is found on his Berio (Complete) album, which I have.

A good promo for "Scandale". I don't know how successful it was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dlLS-j0X0Y8#t=8


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Mandryka said:


> Pierre Hantai, 2 English Suites, Italian Concerto, and some odd Preludes.
> 
> So far I've only had the chance to listen carefully to the Italian Concerto - which shows how good Hantai isat making the harpsichord do unusual sounds - and how he has a real good feel for when to speed up/ slow down. It's a special performance.
> 
> *Is anyone going to say that Lang Lang and Harnoncourt's new Mozart CD is one of the best of 2014?*


I wouldn't go that far, but it's probably the best I've heard out of Bang Bang, er I mean Lang Lang.

Yes, folks, the genius of Mozart is further enhanced...by making this artist play just the music. Some help from Harnoncourt, no doubt.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Bach: Inventions & Sinfonias, BWV 772-801 as played by Simone Dinnerstein is a top notch recording from this year.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*10 Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014*

Word of advice: Ignore _Olga Bell_ -- the only clunker in an otherwise interesting list.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/10-imagination-grabbing-trailblazing-artists-2014/?utm_source=local&utm_medium=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Vaneyes said:


> A good promo for "Scandale". I don't know how successful it was.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dlLS-j0X0Y8#t=8


I enjoyed that performance.

They're obviously trying to position the music for a cross-over audience. But I don't mind that.

As long as the music is good, who cares how it's marketed?


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

Morimur said:


> Word of advice: Ignore _Olga Bell_ -- the only clunker in an otherwise interesting list.
> 
> http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/10-imagination-grabbing-trailblazing-artists-2014/?utm_source=local&utm_medium=treatment&utm_campaign=daMost&utm_content=damostviewed


I thought the Olga Bell track was quite fun! I was impressed with Nina Young and found the Julian Wachner music enjoyable and really symphonic. I still don't know what to make of Anna Thorvalsdottir tho - there's something there in how it sounds but it feels a bit directionless to me...


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## DarkAngel (Aug 11, 2010)

This *Haydn keyboard sonata set *(piano used here) was actually released in 2013 but was well hidden and just recently came to my attention, if that name Ekaterina Derzhavina is vaguely familiar back in 1998 she came out of nowhere with one of the very best Bach Goldberg's ever using piano and then slid back into relative obscurity.........

The style is highly whimsical, naturally intuitive with assertive forward momentum (somewhat like Hamelin) a great find to go along with Brautigam's excellent forte piano set.......


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## papsrus (Oct 7, 2014)

JACE said:


> I enjoyed that performance.
> 
> They're obviously trying to position the music for a cross-over audience. But I don't mind that.
> 
> As long as the music is good, who cares how it's marketed?


Big mash up in the YouTube comments on this one. I could not watch it. Made my eyeballs hurt.

The NYTimes critics weighed in with their selections a few days ago.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

papsrus said:


> Big mash up in the YouTube comments on this one. I could not watch it. Made my eyeballs hurt.
> 
> The NYTimes critics weighed in with their selections a few days ago.


Thanks for the link - I'll whole-heartedly second their recommendation of Nezet-Seguin's Schumann symphonies. Heard it recently and it's staggeringly good


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

We ought to compile the TC top 2014 recording list for those who want to add them to their purchasing list.


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