Gramophone choices · archive
Gramophone Editor's Choice, August 2015
Every month, mmmusic rounded up the recordings singled out by Gramophone Magazine's own reviewers, a second opinion layered on top of the shop's own reviews. This is the August 2015 selection, kept here as a historical archive rather than a live, ongoing feature.
Shostakovich: Under Stalin's Shadow
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons
Gramophone's Disc of the Month for August 2015.
Bruckner: Symphony No. 1
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden
Listening to the First Symphony is a trip of discovery through Bruckner's countryside…
Scriabin: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 'The Poem of Ecstasy'
Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory; Russian National Orchestra / Pletnev
In 1899, Scriabin began writing his most ambitious composition to date: the First Symphony…
Eddie McGuire: Entangled Fortunes
Red Note Ensemble
Eddie McGuire is one of Scotland's greatest living composers. A renaissance man…
Transcriptions for Two Pianists
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; François-Frédéric Guy
These two-piano transcriptions played by Bavouzet and Guy renew…
Bach in Montecassino
Luca Guglielmi
In a church in a quiet northern Italian town survives a hidden jewel: an organ…
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Soloists; Bavarian Radio Choir & Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink
The BR-KLASSIK label has already released several recordings with Bernard Haitink…
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / Markus Stenz
The Gürzenich-Orchester of Cologne has a pedigree second to none, counting Gustav Mahler…
Steinberg: Passion Week
Cappella Romana / Alexander Lingas
“Like Steinberg's 'Passion Week' and the other neglected music it's resurrected, Cappella…”
Nielsen: Maskarade
Soloists; Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Choir / Michael Schønwandt
Carl Nielsen's vivid comedy opera Maskarade has enjoyed a natural status as Denmark's…
Escaich: Claude
Soloists; Opéra de Lyon / Jérémie Rhorer
In 2010, Thierry Escaich composed his first opera, 'Claude'…
About Gramophone Magazine
Gramophone was founded in 1923, making it the oldest classical music review magazine still in publication, and its monthly Editor's Choice has long carried real weight among collectors and specialist retailers alike, a second, independent opinion layered on top of a shop's own in-house reviews. mmmusic's own Gramophone Choices feature ran for years alongside the shop's regular CD reviews, giving customers both the shop's own recommendations and a snapshot of what the wider classical press was singling out that month. August 2015's selection, kept here as it was originally published, ranges from a major Shostakovich release with the Boston Symphony under Andris Nelsons to a chamber disc by the Glasgow-based composer Eddie McGuire, a reasonable cross-section of what a specialist shop's customers were actually buying that summer. The Nelsons/Boston Shostakovich disc named Gramophone's overall Disc of the Month that same issue went on to launch what became a substantial, award-winning Shostakovich symphony cycle for Deutsche Grammophon, making this particular pick a useful snapshot of a major recording project at its very start rather than just one month's opinion.
About this archive
What was Gramophone Editor's Choice?
A monthly feature in which mmmusic reprinted the recordings Gramophone Magazine, the UK's leading classical review publication, had singled out as its own editors' picks that month, alongside the shop's regular in-house reviews.
Is this feature still running?
No, this page is kept as a historical archive of the August 2015 selection. It isn't updated with new picks.
Who is Eddie McGuire?
A Scottish composer closely associated with Glasgow's contemporary music scene, and a founding member of the folk-influenced group The Whistlebinkies. Entangled Fortunes, performed here by Red Note Ensemble, is one of his chamber works.
Can I still find these recordings?
Most remain in catalogue through their original labels. We don't run an in-house shop, so search Amazon or Discogs directly for any title above.