Enjoy new music with our classical music chart for this week. Our weekly selections are based on sales numbers and simply what albums we love and think you NEED to hear.
For the complete top 20, tune into Classical Chartz with the New Classical FM’s Mark Wigmore every Saturday from 3-5 p.m.
There’s no change at the No. 1 position on the Classical Chartz for the fourth week in a row. It’s firmly occupied by Dutch violinist André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra and their album The Sound of Heaven. Classical melodies with a strong touch of the romantic are on offer — and it seems like listeners around the world are responding.
Hard on its heels, however, are two fast rising releases: Ludovico Einaudi’s The Summer Portraits, and the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the biopic Maria. The Summer Portraits is closing in on the top, currently at No. 2, up from No. 7 last week. Maria climbs from No. 6 to settle in at No. 3 this week.
Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho is the newcomer to the Classical Chartz Top Ten this week with his album Maurice Ravel. It’s also the fastest rising on the Chartz, having climbed all the way from No. 11 to land at No. 6.
It’s a credit to his non-musical parents that they recognized his talent, and he began to study both piano and violin at the age of six. He first took the stage for a piano recital in public at the age of 11. He later studied at Sunchon National University and Seoul National University.
The South Korean pianist’s international career was launched after his first prize win at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition. He has since released seven studio albums (and one live recording) on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and is the Artist in Residence of the Berlin Philharmonic for 2024/25.
The album is the first of two that will present Ravel’s complete works for solo piano. “I’ve always been fascinated by the ideas, colours and emotions to be found in Ravel’s music, and it has been an honour to record his complete solo piano works and concertos,” he says in a statement. “Ravel really knew what he wanted, so I try to follow his specific markings.”
Cho will be hitting Toronto’s Koerner Hall later this year on November 29 to perform a program of Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin and Bartok.
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