‘He was, above all, a treasured spirit, who understood how vital music is for the human soul’: tributes to Andrew Clements
In the week that we mourn the death of the Guardian’s long-serving classical music critic, composers, performers, colleagues and others who knew and worked with him pay tribute to a writer whose passing is a huge loss to the music world
Our top 10 classical recordings of 2023
Previously unexplored corners of repertoire, why Italians are outstanding Monteverdians, and a recording of Liszt with huge verve and personality
Monteverdi: Tutti I Madrigali album review – Alessandrini has achieved something truly outstanding
Twenty-eight years in the making, Rinaldo Alessandrini finally completes his wonderful survey of Monteverdi madrigals, and the complete set is a joy to behold
Bacewicz: Symphonies 3 & 4 album review – Oramo is a passionate advocate
Sakari Oramo and the BBCSO revel in the expert orchestrations of Grażyna Bacewicz’s music in this first instalment of recordings of the Polish composer’s orchestral works
Aux Étoiles: French Symphonic Poems album review – well worth exploring
This two-disc compilation provides a potted history of the symphonic poem genre in France. Charlotte Sohy’s little known Danse Mystique stands out as a remarkable discovery
Mozart: Piano Concs K238 and 503 album review – cool precision from Kristian Bezuidenhout on a period fortepiano
Freiburg Baroque Orch.(Harmonia Mundi)
Shostakovich: Symphonies 2, 3, 12 and 13 album review – Nelsons ends his cycle as convincingly as it began
Although for some of these performances revolutionary zeal is replaced by routine, the 13th stands apart
Fantasia: Works by Bach, Liszt, Berg and Busoni album review – Igor Levit reaches his final destination
Busoni’s hugely challenging Fantasia contrappuntistica is the climax of this two-cd set featuring works that balance musical freedom and formal rigour
Rodgers and Hammerstein: Oklahoma! review – Oh, What a Beautiful Recording
John Wilson’s scrupulously prepared recording gives us exactly what the audience would have heard on the musical’s opening night in New York in 1943
Villa-Lobos: Suite Floresta do Amazonas review – a hymn to the abundance of the rainforest
Simone Menezes conducts a concert suite extracted from Villa-Lobos’s last major work: a vivid and exuberant evocation of the Amazon filled with moments of intense beauty
Cheshire