Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021

They’re both electrifying, and they sound absolutely magnificent...Pappano makes sure [the Fourth] sings as often as it can...This is a terrible beauty, energetic, Satanic, utterly spellbinding,... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…

The Philadelphia polish helps to highlight one of Price’s most endearing qualities: those kaleidoscopic orchestrations, with piquant detailing from all corners, including celesta and slide whistle...... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Even by their standards, the choir are on blindingly good form in Schnittke’s monumental Choir Concerto. — Gramophone Magazine, December 2021 More…

Here in [the Bridge Lament] is a prime example of the heartfelt precision and beauty of tone that typifies John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London. There’s plenty of heart, too, in their superlative... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Nothing in the entire literature of Etudes surpasses Chopin’s Op. 25, and the best interpreters not only clear all the technical hurdles but project the 12 pieces as a progressive sequence.... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Vänskä sees to it that his ever-waxing Minnesota Orchestra is ideally engaged with the various heights and depths...Limpid and lurid woodwind playing shines out, from the ghoulish clarinets... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2021, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Ibragimova imbues each caprice with its own unique musical personality and expressive narrative, with the result that all those thousands of notes emerge with an emotional rather than merely... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…

There is much to admire here thanks to Ólafsson’s superb pianism, most notably in Haydn’s Sonata No. 47, Mozart’s little C major Sonata and his Adagio in B minor; his Kleine Gigue goes like... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2021, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

The first surprise of this album – which you will absolutely want to hear – is the subtlety and intimacy of Levit’s playing…Only a handful of pianists have scaled the heights of Stevenson’s... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Spyres has a remarkable range and is a consummate vocal chameleon too...in a truly remarkable finale to his ‘Largo al factotum’, Rossini’s Figaro is indeed all things to all men vocally. What... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…