CONTENTS Volume 97 Number 11 82 EDITORIAL Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone@markallengroup.com EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 7501 6365 REVIEWS EDITOR Tim Parry / 020 7501 6367 ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy SUB EDITOR David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 SUB EDITOR Marija ­uric´ Speare ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee THANKS TO Hannah Nepilova and Charlotte Gardner EDITOR IN CHIEF James Jolly ADVERTISING Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone.ads@markallengroup.com COMMERCIAL MANAGER Esther Zuke / 020 7501 6368 SALES EXECUTIVE Samuel Desborough / 020 7501 6373 SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES 0800 137201 (UK) +44 (0)1722 716997 (overseas) subscriptions@markallengroup.com PUBLISHING Phone 020 7738 5454 HEAD OF MARKETING AND DIGITAL STRATEGY Luca Da Rè / 020 7501 6362 MARKETING MANAGER John Barnett / 020 7501 6233 MARKETING EXECUTIVE Hayley Sigrist / 020 7738 6459 GROUP INSTITUTIONAL SALES MANAGER Jas Atwal PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richard Hamshere / 01722 716997 PRODUCTION MANAGER Jon Redmayne CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Sally Boettcher / 01722 716997 SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Chris Hoskins / 01722 716997 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Martin Cullingford MANAGING DIRECTOR Paul Geoghegan CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Ben Allen CHAIRMAN Mark Allen www.markallengroup.com GRAMOPHONE is published by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@markallengroup.com or subscriptions@markallengroup.com ISSN 0017 310X. 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EDITOR’S CHOICE The 12 most highly recommended recordings reviewed in this issue CHRISTMAS ROUND-UP RECORDING OF THE MONTH Mark Pullinger is thrilled by the sheer range of character in Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth’s account of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique ORCHESTRAL Amsterdam Sinfonietta play Arensky and Tchaikovsky; Glass’s Symphony No 5; Schumann symphonies from Gardiner and Herreweghe CHAMBER The Nash Ensemble play Julian Anderson; Quatuor Van Kuijk’s Mozart; Diana Tishchenko’s promising Warner debut INSTRUMENTAL Alkan from Mark Viner; Jonathan Biss’s final Beethoven volume; Piemontesi plays Schubert VOCAL A star-studded Berlioz La damnation de Faust; Gerhaher’s Schumann; two fine Farinelli albums OPERA Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov; an Australian Tristan; the latest album from Jakub Józef Orlin´ski JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC Reviews from our sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines REISSUES Furtwängler, Walter and the Maggini Quartet BOX-SET ROUND-UP REPLAY The latest batch of discs from Melo Classic CLASSICS RECONSIDERED Harriet Smith and Tim Parry discuss Pollini’s 1972 DG recording of Chopin’s Études BOOKS A classic Debussy biography translated into English; conversations with Harry Christophers GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION Strauss’s divisive Symphonia domestica on record REVIEWS INDEX FOR THE RECORD All the latest classical music news – and more THE HOROWITZ EFFECT Michelle Assay interviews those who were closest to this ‘titan of the piano’, 30 years after his death WEINBERG AT To mark the prolific composer’s centenary, David Fanning explores his hugely diverse output THE ART OF ANDRIS NELSONS Whether he’s in Leipzig, Vienna or Boston, the conductor is focused on connecting with his players on a spiritual level, he tells Peter Quantrill COMPETITIONS GUIDE Our annual guide to the best music competitions throughout the UK, Europe and further afield CRITICS’ CHOICE Our experts pick their favourite 2019 release MUSICIAN AND THE SCORE Peter Quantrill talks to Adám Fischer about harnessing the colossal forces of Mahler’s Eighth ICONS Tully Potter on Moravian pianist Rudolf Firku≈n≥ CONTEMPORARY COMPOSER Andrew Mellor on the ethereal sound world of the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür WHAT NEXT? Starting with La bohème, Mark Pullinger takes us on an evocative listening journey across Paris PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS Experience the best concerts, in person and online HIGH FIDELITY LETTERS AND OBITUARIES NEW RELEASES MY MUSIC Former BBC Arts and Media correspondent Nick Higham on Semele and his love of folk music 4 GRAMOPHONE DECEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk