Classical Highlights for April 2026

Our new reviewers have been thrown into the vast world of new Classical recordings and are finding their footings. Some of the highlights they found this month include literature-inspired music by composer-conductor Daníel Bjarnson, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (pictured); a program of Art Noveau piano trios by Trio Wanderer; and some meticulously sung, calming music for an evening service by The King's Singers. There are also the perpetual favorite composers -- J.S. Bach, Mahler, and Brahms, to name just three -- among the new releases, along with a restored recording by Sir Edward Elgar leading his own Enigma Variations.

April Classical Reviews

Piotr Anderszewski - Brahms: Late Piano Works
Giovanni Antonini, Kammerorchester Basel - Haydn 2032, No. 18: Il maestro di scuola
Martin James Bartlett, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Howard Griffiths - Concertos: Bach, Mozart, Britten
Olivia Belli - Belli: 'Daimon' Piano Concerto; Ithaca Suite; Sonatina for Nausicaa
Daníel Bjarnason, Iceland Symphony Orchestra - The Grotesque & The Sublime
Café Zimmermann, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian - Vivaldi: Masques
Calidore String Quartet - American Tapestry
Renaud Capuçon - Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas & Partitas
Thibault Cauvin - Alter Ego
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann - Light out of Darkness: Choral Music by Elgar
Stella Chen, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Jean-Jacques Kantorow - Beethoven & Barber: Violin Concertos
Fabrizio Chiovetta - Brahms: Klavierstücke, Op. 116-119
Imogen Cooper - Beethoven: The Last Three Sonatas
Christoph Croise, Beyond Modern Orchestra, Daniel Schnyder - Daniel Schnyder: Cello Concerto; Concerto Populaire
Alexandra Dariescu, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - A Child’s Dream
Grace Davidson, Julian Perkins - A Thousand Charms
Gaspard Dehaene - Fauré en Héritage
Lea Desandre, Jupiter, Thomas Dunford - Songs of Passion
Frank Dupree, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, HK Gruber - HK Gruber: Piano Concerto; Short Stories from the Vienna Woods; Castles in the Air
Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Henry Wood - Elgar: From the Archives, Vol. 1
Jennifer France, Wallis Giunta, HK Gruber - Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins
Eliza Garth - By the River: Works for piano solo
Gustavo Gimeno, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Toronto Symphony Orchestra - Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin; Concerto for Orchestra
Neal Goren, Talea Ensemble, Melissa Harvey, Laurie Rubin - Nadia Boulanger: La ville morte
Gould Piano Trio - Franz Schubert: Piano Trios, Vol. 2
Amy Harman, Tom Poster - Bassoonist's Songbook
Linda Hedlund, La Tempesta Orchestra, József Hárs - Finnish Works for Violin and Orchestra
Heinz Holliger, Marie-Lise Schüpbach - con slancio
Huddersfield Choral Society, Opera North Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins - Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Ruby Hughes, Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann, Jonas Nordberg - Amidst the Shades
Steven Isserlis, Connie Shih - 1851: Schumann & Moscheles Sonatas
Victor Jacob, Isaure Brunner, Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin - Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Neeme Järvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Alfvén: Festspel; Suite from 'Gustaf II Adolf'; Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Vladimir Jurowski, London Philharmonic Orchestra - Mahler: Symphony No. 9
The King's Singers - Head Space: Candlelight
Anna Lapwood, Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge - Arise, Shine
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Andrew Staples, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth - Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Yunchan Lim - Bach: Goldberg Variations - Live at Carnegie Hall
Eric Lu - Schubert: The Impromptus Opp. 90 & 142
James McVinnie - Bach: Clavier-Übung III
The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford; Mark Williams - Arise my love: Music for the Break of Day
Julien Martineau, Victor Hugo Orchestre, Jean-François Verdier - La Cinquième Saison: Apparailly, Vivaldi, Beffa
Kenji Miura - Heimat: Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms
Alice Sara Ott - Jóhann Jóhannsson: Piano Works
Charles Owen - De Profundis: Liszt, Franck
Luciano Pavarotti - The Lost Concert
Luciano Pavarotti - Novanta
Georges Prête, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR - Fauré: Requiem; Poulenc: Gloria
Roberto Prosseda - Georges Bizet: The Piano Works
Choir of the Queen's College, Oxford; Owen Rees - The Crown of Life: Leighton, Clarke, Holst, Darke
Daniel Reuss, Cappella Amsterdam, Noord Nederlands Orkest - Igor Stravinsky: Late Works
Esa-Pekka Salonen, San Francisco Symphony - Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
Ole Schmidt, London Symphony Orchestra - Havergal Brian: Symphony No. 1 'The Gothic'
Christian Schmitt, Bamberger Symphoniker, Fabien Gabel - César Franck: Grande Pièce Symphonique; Les Éolides; Charles-Marie Widor: La Nuit de Walpurgis
Aristo Sham - Timeline
Hayato Sumino - Chopin Orbit
Trio Barclay - Beyond the Pacific: Seyfried, Wineglass, Fine
Trio Ernest, Eleonore Billy - Wonderful Adventures of Amanda Maier
Trio Wanderer - Art Nouveau: French Chamber Music Around 1900
Nobuyuki Tsujii - Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky
Dénes Várjon - Dénes Várjon plays Bela Bartók
Voces8 - Twenty
Mary Elizabeth Williams, Kenneth Kellogg, Opera Lafayette Orchestra, Patrick Dupre Quigley - Edmond Dédé: Morgiane, ou, Le Sultan d'Ispahan
John Wilson, Xiayin Wang, Peter Dixon, Sinfonia of London - MacDowell, Vol. 2: Piano Concerto No. 2; Romanze; Suite; Hamlet; Ophelia