Join us this festive season as we look back on 24 of our favourite recordings from our artists over the past year!
Day 1:
Mahan Esfahani: J.S. Bach: Preludes, Inventions, Sinfonias
This is the latest disc Mahan Esfahani has released on Hyperion. It is a collection of miniatures centered around the sets of Inventions and Sinfonias which Bach wrote principally as teaching aids to encourage young keyboard players ‘keen to learn’. Receiving widespread acclaim, critics praised Esfahani’s interpretive flair, expressive freedom and meticulous scholarship.
"...Esfahani’s playing [is] so lively and subtle, that no one should bemoan the absence of grand musical architecture. Hyperion’s recording and engineering spread their own delight by treasuring the dying reverberation of a piece’s last note and taking a helpful breath before plunging us into the next jewel. This is the kind of album you wish would never end." - Geoff Brown, The Times
Listen to Bach Invention No.6 in E major here: https://open.spotify.com/track...
Day 2:
David Parry: Stanford: Shamus O'Brien
Shamus O'Brien is set against the Irish rebellion of 1798, and tells the story of the charismatic Shamus O'Brien, hunted by the English so he can be brought to justice. First performed at the Opera Comique in London in 1896, it was subsequently performed around the world, with much made of the inclusion of a part for a player of Irish, or Uilleann pipes. Founded in 2014, Retrospect Opera, an energetic independent recording company and charity devoted to reviving significant operas and related works of the British Isles prior to 1945, recorded this romantic comic opera in 2023
'In short, this is a magnificent piece of advocacy for an inspired and wonderfully enjoyable opera' - Gramophone Magazine
Listen to the Overture here: https://open.spotify.com/track/30jmlPNnNAb93jRgF9qwB6?si=5dc1299067a94dc6
Day 3:
Amjad Ali Khan & Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash: Live in Aspen
Amjad Ali Khan and sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash enjoy a longstanding collaboration with America’s leading guitarist Sharon Isbin. Their latest album is a live recording released in 2024 on ZOHO Records of their 2022 concert together in Aspen, of ragas arranged for sarod and guitar, uniting their instruments’ respective traditions.
Listen to Sacred Evening - Raga Yaman here: https://open.spotify.com/track/2eXMPOqiUZJacpJHagNUbu?si=71e8d6b1e08d48f8
